1. The Los Alamos crystal box experiment: A search for μ → eγ, μ → eγγ, and μ → eee
- Author
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H. S. Matis, Gary E. Hogan, C. M. Hoffman, V. L. Highland, D. Grosnick, S. C. Wright, Judd D. Bowman, D. E. Nagle, R. Werbeck, M. Duong-van, S. L. Wilson, R. L. Talaga, R. E. Mischke, R. D. Carlini, E. B. Hughes, V. D. Sandberg, J. S. Frank, F. G. Mariam, R. D. Bolton, R. A. Williams, M. D. Cooper, A. L. Hallin, P. Heusi, R. Hofstadter, G. H. Sanders, and Urs Sennhauser
- Subjects
Crystal ,Nuclear physics ,Physics ,Full width at half maximum ,Photon ,Muon ,Physics::Instrumentation and Detectors ,Scintillation counter ,Detector ,Electron ,Scintillator - Abstract
A search has been performed for the decays μ → eee, μ → eγ, and μ → eγγ with a sensitivity in the branching ratios at the level of 10−10. The experiment used a surface muon beam at LAMPF with an average intensity of 300 kHz. A total of ≳1011 muon decays was examined for the present result. The detector for the experiment is the Crystal Box which consists of a cylindrical drift chamber surrounded by 396 NaI(T1) crystals. A layer of scintillation counters in front of the crystals provided timing for electrons and a veto for photons. The energy resolution for electrons and photons is ∼6% (FWHM). The position resolution of the drift chamber is 350 μm leading to a vertex cut with a rejection of 103 for μ → eee. The timing resolution is ∼400 ps from the scintillators and ∼1 ns from the crystals. From these values, the eee and eγγ limits are expected to be background free.
- Published
- 1984
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