Search For Hidden Particles Experiment Research Articles

RPCs for the SND Muon System of the SHiP experiment

SHiP (Search for Hidden Particles) is a proposed beam dump experiment at CERN SPS, with the aim of exploring the so-called Hidden Sector. Since a large neutrino flux is expected to be produced at the beam dump, the experiment could also allow for the study of neutrino physics with unprecedented statistics. A dedicated Scattering and Neutrino Detector (SND), equipped with a downstream Muon Identification System, is thus being designed. The SND muon detector consists of iron filters interleaved with tracking planes, based on RPC technology. Each muon plane has an active area of about (2 x 4) m2 and consists of three large gaps read out by two panels of perpendicular strips. The SHiP RPCs have to provide a uniform spatial response as well as high efficiency. The design of the SND muon system is presented and the performance of a SHiP RPC prototype is discussed.

The Use of the BIM Approach from the Conceptual Planning to the Construction Phase: The Case Study of the SHiP Experiment

The Search for Hidden Particles (SHiP) experiment is a new purpose fixed target facility proposed for the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron accelerator to search for long-lived exotic particles associated with Hidden Sectors and Dark Matter. This paper reports on the development of BIM integrated design for the SHiP experiment, applied initially to the Decay Volume, a >2000 m3 conical steel vessel under a vacuum hosting several large particle physics detector systems. A BIM methodology is used to address all the design phases of the Decay Volume of the SHiP experiment from the conceptual planning to the constructive drawings production. This proposed workflow is a basic plan to be repeated for each sub-component of the SHiP experiment in order to have a full and overall integration of the experiment. In particular, the Decay Volume’s geometrical and structural design and the simulation of its assembly process, both in factory and on site, are proposed. Moreover, the use of collaborative platforms to speed up the ideas exchange, as the basis of a highly multidisciplinary and complex project, is discussed. The complexity, multidisciplinary nature, and size of the SHiP project severely challenge design information management. The final plan to solve this issue is to have a BIM integrated design of each experiment sub-component, such as that demonstrated in this work for the Decay Volume, in order to have a full and multidisciplinary integration of the overall project.

The SHiP experiment at the proposed CERN SPS Beam Dump Facility

The Search for Hidden Particles (SHiP) Collaboration has proposed a general-purpose experimental facility operating in beam-dump mode at the CERN SPS accelerator to search for light, feebly interacting particles. In the baseline configuration, the SHiP experiment incorporates two complementary detectors. The upstream detector is designed for recoil signatures of light dark matter (LDM) scattering and for neutrino physics, in particular with tau neutrinos. It consists of a spectrometer magnet housing a layered detector system with high-density LDM/neutrino target plates, emulsion-film technology and electronic high-precision tracking. The total detector target mass amounts to about eight tonnes. The downstream detector system aims at measuring visible decays of feebly interacting particles to both fully reconstructed final states and to partially reconstructed final states with neutrinos, in a nearly background-free environment. The detector consists of a 50mathrm { ,m} long decay volume under vacuum followed by a spectrometer and particle identification system with a rectangular acceptance of 5 m in width and 10 m in height. Using the high-intensity beam of 400,mathrm {GeV} protons, the experiment aims at profiting from the 4times 10^{19} protons per year that are currently unexploited at the SPS, over a period of 5–10 years. This allows probing dark photons, dark scalars and pseudo-scalars, and heavy neutral leptons with GeV-scale masses in the direct searches at sensitivities that largely exceed those of existing and projected experiments. The sensitivity to light dark matter through scattering reaches well below the dark matter relic density limits in the range from a few {mathrm {,MeV!/}c^2} up to 100 MeV-scale masses, and it will be possible to study tau neutrino interactions with unprecedented statistics. This paper describes the SHiP experiment baseline setup and the detector systems, together with performance results from prototypes in test beams, as it was prepared for the 2020 Update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics. The expected detector performance from simulation is summarised at the end.

Neutrino physics with the SHiP experiment at CERN

The SHiP (Search for Hidden Particles) experiment has been recently proposed at CERN to be operated in beam dump mode at the SPS, with the aim of investigating the Hidden Sector searching for long-lived particles in the GeV mass range. The beam dump will be a copious source of hidden particles, together with active neutrinos of all flavours. The SHiP detector is designed to detect feebly interacting particles and to perform precision studies of neutrino and anti-neutrino interactions, too. In five years run 2 × 1020 protons on target will be delivered, leading to the first direct observation of tau anti-neutrinos. The and vτ deep-inelastic scattering cross-sections will be evaluated with a statistics a thousand times larger than currently available. The F 4 and F 5 structure functions, never measured so far, will be also extracted and charm physics studies will be realised with improved accuracy with respect to the past, thus improving the sensitivity to the s quark distribution in the nucleon.This paper will focus on the neutrino physics potential of the SHiP experiment, including its sensitivity to Heavy Neutral Leptons searches.

RPCs and readout system for the neutrino detector of the SHiP experiment

SHiP (Search for Hidden Particles) is a proposed experiment to be installed at CERN, with the aim of exploring the high intensity beam frontier to investigate the so-called Hidden Sector. Since the SPS proton beam interacting with the SHiP high density target is expected to produce a large neutrino flux, the experiment will also study neutrino physics with unprecedented statistics. A dedicated Scattering and Neutrino Detector (SND) is thus being designed. It consists of a nuclear emulsion target and a tracking fibres detector in magnetic field followed by a Muon Identification System. The Muon System is composed of iron filters interleaved with tracking planes, instrumented with Resistive Plate Chambers (RPCs) operated in avalanche mode. Each plane consists of three gaps read out by two panels of perpendicular strips. The RPC read-out electronics is being developed. It is based on the use of front-end Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) connected to a concentration system, transmitting data serially at high speed via optical link to the data acquisition and control system. A small-scale prototype of the SHiP Muon Identification System, with five RPC planes consisting of one large gap each, has been produced and exposed at CERN H4 facility in a test beam.

R&D on Trigger Resistive Plate Chambers for the Search for Hidden Particles Experiment

The main goals of the Search for Hidden Particles (SHiP) experiment are to observe hidden particles and to run a high-statistics study of tau neutrino events. Two different types of resistive plate chambers (RPCs) will be used in the future SHiP experiment: one for triggers to select the decayed muons emitted via tau neutrino interactions and one for precision time measurements of charged particles, which are expected from the decays of hidden particles. In the present research, we constructed and tested a prototype RPC module to study the fundamental detector performance of the muon trigger RPCs in the tau neutrino detector of the SHiP experiment. The required detector characteristics, such as the intrinsic noise rate, the time response, and the spatial resolution, were proven through the test of the present prototype detector with cosmic muons.

The magnet of the scattering and neutrino detector for the SHiP experiment at CERN

The Search for Hidden Particles (SHiP) experiment proposal at CERN demands a dedicated dipole magnet for its scattering and neutrino detector. This requires a very large volume to be uniformly magnetized at B>1.2 T, with constraints regarding the inner instrumented volume as well as the external region, where no massive structures are allowed and only an extremely low stray field is admitted. In this paper we report the main technical challenges and the relevant design options providing a comprehensive design for the magnet of the SHiP Scattering and Neutrino Detector.

Advancing the CERN proton synchrotron multiturn extraction towards the high-intensity proton beams frontier

Complementary to the physics research at the LHC, several fixed-target facilities receive beams from the LHC injector complex. To serve the fixed-target physics programme at the super proton synchrotron, high-intensity proton beams from the proton synchrotron are extracted using the multiturn extraction technique based on trapping parts of the beam in stable resonance islands. Considering the number of protons requested by future experimental fixed-target facilities, such as the proposed search for hidden particles experiment, the currently delivered beam intensities are insufficient. Experimental studies were conducted to optimize the multiturn extraction technique, pushing its capabilities in the domain of high-intensity proton beams, and their results are presented in this paper. The success of these studies led to the decision to discontinue the former continuous transfer and remove the related hardware from the accelerator. Therefore, the multiturn extraction becomes standard operational practice for delivering proton beams for the fixed-target physics programme at the CERN super proton synchrotron.

Народження S-бозона в реакції кулонівського розсіяння ядра на протоні або електроні

The production cross-section of the beyond the standard model (BSM) scalar boson (S boson) have been considered it the article. Scalar boson produced via photon fusion reaction in the deep inelastic scattering of a charged particle (proton or electron) on heavy nucleus of the target. This process is one of the possible mechanisms of BSM boson production at the SHiP (Search for Hidden Particles) experiment at the CERN LHC and may be dominating among others processes due to large nuclear charge. Previously [1], the amplitude and the production cross-section of this reaction were found. The found cross-section was analyzed for the case of proton scattering on the lead nucleus and compared with the production cross-section in the decay of Ds meson. In this paper we make estimate of the process more accurate and consider also electron-nucleus scattering. It was found that the photon fusion reaction pZ \to S may be effective only in the case of massless S boson.

Обрахунок перерізу народження BSM бозона в реакції фотонного злиття

The production cross-section of the beyond the standard model (BSM) scalar boson (S-boson) have been considered it the article. Scalar boson produced via photon fusion reaction in the deep inelastic scattering of a charged particle (proton or electron) on heavy nucleus of the target. This process is one of the possible mecha- nisms of BSM boson production at the SHiP (Search for Hidden Particles) experiment at the CERN LHC and may be dominating among others processes due to large nuclear charge. In a low-energy case for which virtual photon wavelength similar or bigger nuclear size one can consider nucleus as an elementary particle with the charge Z. Corresponding amplitude is proportional to Z and the cross-section proportional to Z^2. Due to this the alpha_{EM}^2 suppression of the production cross-section is approximately compensated by the charge number factor Z^2. The mass of boson cannot exceed 4 MeV for the incident proton (or less than 80 MeV for electron). We calculated amplitude and the production cross-section of this reaction directly without using equivalent photon approximation. Interaction between photon and neutral boson is described by triangular diagrams with the loop containing all charged leptons, quarks and W-bosons. For this interaction we used effective lagrangian. The found cross-section was analyzed for the case of proton scattering on the lead nucleous and compared with the production cross-section in the decay of Ds mesons. It was found that the photon fusion reaction becomes effective only with a S-boson mass less than 0.1 keV.

Dark matter at the SHiP experiment

We study prospects of dark matter searches in the SHiP experiment. SHiP (Search for Hidden Particles) is the recently proposed fixed target experiment which will exploit the high-intensity beam of 400 GeV protons from the CERN SPS. In addition to the hidden sector detector, SHiP will be equipped with the ν τ detector, which presumably would be sensitive to dark matter particles. We describe appropriate production and detection channels and estimate SHiP’s sensitivity for a scalar dark matter coupled to the Standard model through the vector mediator.