Highlights from the COMPASS experiment at CERN -- Hadron spectroscopy and excitations

The COMPASS experiment at the CERN-SPS studies the spectrum and the structure of hadrons by scattering high energy hadrons and polarised muons off various fixed targets. Recent results for the hadron programme comprise highlights from different topics. A selective overview is given and, among others, the following results are discussed. The precise determination of the pion polarisability, a long standing puzzle that has been solved now, is presented as well as measurements of radiative widths. The observation of a new narrow axial-vector state, the $a_1(1420)$, as well as deeper insights into the exotic $1^{-+}$-wave, which is under study since decades by several experiments, are discussed and further, the search for the charmonium-like exotic $Z_c(3900)$ state in the COMPASS data is covered.Comment: 12 pages, 23 figures, ICNFP2015 Conference Proceedings, to appear in the proceedings of the 4th International Conference on New Frontiers in Physics, Creta, Greece, August 23-20, 201

Diffractive pion production at COMPASS -- First results on 3π\pi final states - neutral mode

The COMPASS experiment at CERN is designed for light hadron spectroscopy with emphasis on the detection of new states, in particular the search for exotic states and glue-balls. After a short pilot run in 2004 (190 GeV/c negative pion beam, lead target) showing significant production strength for an exotic $J^{PC}=1^{-+}$ state at 1.66\,GeV/${\rm c^2}$, we have collected data with a 190 GeV/c negative charged hadron beam on a proton (liquid hydrogen) and nuclear targets in 2008 and 2009. The spectrometer features good coverage by electromagnetic calorimetry, and our data provide excellent opportunity for simultaneous observation of new states in two different decay modes in the same experiment. The diffractively produced $(3\pi)^{-}$ system for example can be studied in both modes $\pi^{-}p \rightarrow \pi^{-}\pi^{+}\pi^{-}p$ and $\pi^{-}~p \rightarrow \pi^{-}\pi^{0}\pi^{0}~p$. Charged and neutral mode rely on completely different parts of the spectrometer. Observing a new state in both modes provides important cross-check. First results of a preliminary PWA performed on the 2008 data are presented.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, to appear in the AIP Conf. Proc., Hadron 2009, XIII Intern. Conference on Hadron Spectroscopy, Nov 29th - Dec 4th 2009, Florida State Universit

New results on the search for spin-exotic mesons with COMPASS

The COMPASS fixed-target experiment at the CERN-SPS studies the structure and spectrum of hadrons. One important goal using hadron beams is the search for new states, in particular spin-exotic mesons and glueballs. As a first input to the puzzle, COMPASS observed a significant $J^{PC}$ spin-exotic signal in the 2004 pilot run data (190\,GeV/$c$ $\pi^{-}$ beam, Pb target) in three charged pion final states consistent with the disputed $\pi_1(1600)$. We started our hadron spectroscopy programme in 2008 by collecting very high statistics using a 190 GeV/$c$ negative pion beam scattered off a liquid hydrogen (proton) target. The current status and new results from the 2008 data on the search for the $\pi_1(1600)$ resonance with exotic $J^{PC}=1^{-+}$ quantum numbers obtained from partial-wave analyses of the $\rho\pi$ and $\eta'\pi$ decay channels are presented.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, HEP 2011 Conference Proceedings, to appear in the proceedings of the XXI International Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics: HEP 2011, Grenoble, France, 21-27 July 2011; v2: Corrected typos, added a referenc

First Results on Hadron Spectroscopy at COMPASS

The COMPASS fixed-target experiment at the CERN SPS is dedicated to the study of hadron structure and dynamics. One goal of the physics programme using hadron beams is the search for new states, in particular the search for $J^{PC}$ exotic states and glueballs. After a short pilot run in 2004 (190 GeV/c $\pi^{-}$ beam, lead target), we started our hadron spectroscopy programme in 2008 by collecting unprecedented statistics using 190 GeV/c negative hadron beams on a liquid hydrogen target. A similar amount of data with 190 GeV/c positive hadron beams has been taken in 2009, as well as some data (negative beam) on nuclear targets. As a first result the observation of a significant $J^{PC}$ spin-exotic signal in the 2004 data -- consistent with the disputed $\pi_1(1600)$ -- was recently published. Our spectrometer features good coverage by electromagnetic calorimetry, crucial for the detection of final states involving $\pi^0$, $\eta$ or $\eta'$, and the 2008/09 data provide an excellent opportunity for the simultaneous observation of new states in different decay modes. The diffractively produced $(3\pi)^{-}$ system for example can be studied in $\pi^{-}\pi^{+}\pi^{-}$ and $\pi^{-}\pi^{0}\pi^{0}$ final states, respectively. Observation of new states in both modes provides important consistency checks within the same experiment as the reconstruction of charged and neutral modes rely on completely different parts of the apparatus. We present the first results and give an overview of the status on various ongoing analyses of the 2008/09 data.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the 35th Conference on High Energy Physics 2010, Paris, France, 22-28 Jul 201

COMPASS Hadron Spectroscopy -- Final states involving neutrals and kaons

The COMPASS experiment at CERN is well designed for light-hadron spectroscopy with emphasis on the detection of new states, in particular the search for $J^{PC}$-exotic states and glueballs. We have collected data with 190 GeV/c charged hadron beams on a liquid hydrogen and nuclear targets in 2008/09. The spectrometer features good coverage by electromagnetic calorimetry and a RICH detector further provides $\pi$ / $K$ separation, allowing for studying final states involving neutral particles like $\pi^0$ or $\eta$ as well as hidden strangeness, respectively. We discuss the status of ongoing analyses with specific focus on diffractively produced $(\pi^0\pi^0\pi)^{-}$ as well as $(K\bar{K}\pi)^{-}$ final states.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures, Conf. Proc., to appear in the Intern. Journal of Modern Phys. A, 11th Intern. Workshop on Meson Production, Properties and Interaction, KRAK\'OW, POLAND, 10-15 June 201

Diffractive dissociation into KsK±π∓π−K_sK^{\pm}\pi^{\mp}\pi^{-} final states

The COMPASS fixed-target experiment at CERN/SPS is dedicated to the study of hadron structure and spectroscopy, especially the search for spin-exotic states. After having started to study the existence of the spin-exotic $\pi_1(1600)$ resonance in the 2004 pilot-run data, the new 2008/09 data will enable us to further clarify the situation. Apart from the $\pi_1(1600)$ resonance, also a spin-exotic $\pi_1(2000)$ was reported in the past in the $f_1(1285)\pi$ decay channel by the E852/BNL experiment, however, this state still lacks confirmation. We present a first event selection of the diffractively produced $(K\bar{K}\pi\pi)^{-}$ system showing clean $f_1(1285)$ and $f_1(1420)$ resonances at competing statistics. A partial-wave analysis started on $f_1(1285)\pi$ and $f_1(1420)\pi$ decay channels will further complete the search for spin-exotics in the 2008/09 COMPASS data.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, Hadron2011 Conference Proceedings, to appear in the proceedings of the XIV International Conference on Hadron Spectroscopy: Hadron 2011, Munich, Germany, 13-17 June 201

Spin-exotic search in the ρπ\rho\pi decay channel: New results on π−π0π0\pi^{-}\pi^{0}\pi^{0} in comparison to π−π+π−\pi^{-}\pi^{+}\pi^{-} final states (diffractively produced on proton)

The COMPASS experiment at CERN SPS features charged particle tracking as well as good coverage by electromagnetic calorimetry, and our data provide an excellent opportunity for simultaneous observation of new states in different decay modes by the same experiment. The existence of the spin-exotic $\pi_1(1600)$ resonance in the $\rho\pi$ decay channel is studied for the first time at COMPASS in both decay modes of the diffractively produced $(3\pi)^{-}$ system: $\pi^{-}p \rightarrow \pi^{-}\pi^{+}\pi^{-}p$ and $\pi^{-} p \rightarrow \pi^{-}\pi^{0}\pi^{0} p$. A preliminary partial-wave analysis performed on the 2008 proton target data allows for a first conclusive comparison of both $(3\pi)^{-}$ decay modes not only for main waves but also for small ones. We find the neutral versus charged mode results in excellent agreement with expectations from isospin symmetry. Both, the intensities and the relative phases to well-known resonances, are consistent for the neutral and the charged decay modes of the $(3\pi)^{-}$ system. The status on the search for the spin-exotic $\pi_1(1600)$ resonance produced on a proton target is discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 16 figures, Hadron2011 Conference Proceedings, to appear in the proceedings of the XIV International Conference on Hadron Spectroscopy: Hadron 2011, Munich, Germany, 13-17 June 201

COMPASS Hadron Spectroscopy - Final states involving neutrals and kaons

The COMPASS experiment at CERN is well designed for light-hadron spectroscopy with emphasis on the detection of new states, in particular the search for J P C -exotic states and glueballs. We have collected data with 190 GeV/c charged hadron beams on a liquid hydrogen and nuclear targets in 2008/09. The spectrometer features good coverage by electromagnetic calorimetry and a RICH detector further provides π / K separation, allowing for studying final states involving neutral particles like π 0 or η as well as hidden strangeness, respectively. We discuss the status of ongoing analyses with specific focus on diffractively produced (π 0 π 0 π) − as well as (KKπ) − final states

Meson spectroscopy with COMPASS

The COMPASS fixed-target experiment at CERN SPS is dedicated to the study of hadron structure and dynamics. In the physics programme using hadron beams, the focus is on the detection of new states, in particular the search for $J^{PC}$ exotic states and glueballs. After a short pilot run in 2004 (190 GeV/c negative pion beam, lead target), we started our hadron spectroscopy programme in 2008 by collecting an unprecedented statistics with a negative hadron beam (190 GeV/c) on a liquid hydrogen target. A similar amount of data with positive hadron beam (190 GeV/c) has been taken in 2009, as well as some additional data with negative beam on nuclear targets. The spectrometer features a large angular acceptance and high momentum resolution and also good coverage by electromagnetic calorimetry, crucial for the detection of final states involving $\pi^0$ or $\eta$. A first important result is the observation of a significant $J^{PC}$ spin exotic signal consistent with the disputed $\pi_1(1600)$ in the pilot run data. This result was recently published. We present an overview of the status of various ongoing analyses on the 2008/09 data.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the International Nuclear Physics Conference 2010, Vancouver, Canada, 04-09 Jul 201