Search for a New Gauge Boson in Electron-Nucleus Fixed-Target Scattering by the APEX Experiment

Abrahamyan, S.; Ahmed, Z.; Allada, K.; Anez, D.; Averett, T.; Barbieri, A.; Bartlett, K.; Beacham, J.; Bono, J.; Boyce, J.; Brindza, P.; Camsonne, A.; Cranmer, K.; Dalton, M.; de Jager, C.; Donaghy, J.; Essig, R.; Field, C.; Folts, E.; Gasparian, A.; Goeckner-Wald, N.; Gomez, J.; Graham, M.; Hansen, J.-O.; Higinbotham, D.; Holmstrom, T.; Huang, J.; Iqbal, S.; Jaros, J.; Jensen, E.; Kelleher, A.; Khandaker, M.; LeRose, J.; Lindgren, R.; Liyanage, N.; Long, E.; Mammei, J.; Markowitz, P.; Maruyama, T.; Maxwell, V.; Mayilyan, S.; McDonald, J.; Michaels, R.; Moffeit, K.; Nelyubin, V.; Odian, A.; Oriunno, M.; Partridge, R.; Paolone, M.; Piasetzky, E.; Pomerantz, I.; Qiang, Y.; Riordan, S.; Roblin, Y.; Sawatzky, B.; Schuster, P.; Segal, J.; Selvy, L.; Shahinyan, A.; Subedi, R.; Sulkosky, V.; Stepanyan, S.; Toro, N.; Walz, D.; Wojtsekhowski, B.; Zhang, J.

Author(s)

Sulkosky, Vincent; Kelleher, Aidan Michael; Huang, J.; Abrahamyan, S.; Ahmed, Z.; ... Show more

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Abstract

We present a search at the Jefferson Laboratory for new forces mediated by sub-GeV vector bosons with weak coupling α′ to electrons. Such a particle A′ can be produced in electron-nucleus fixed-target scattering and then decay to an e[superscript +]e[superscript -] pair, producing a narrow resonance in the QED trident spectrum. Using APEX test run data, we searched in the mass range 175–250 MeV, found no evidence for an A′→e[superscript +]e[superscript -] reaction, and set an upper limit of α′/α≃10[superscript -6]. Our findings demonstrate that fixed-target searches can explore a new, wide, and important range of masses and couplings for sub-GeV forces.

Date issued

2011-11

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/71195

Department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Laboratory for Nuclear Science

Journal

Physical Review Letters

Publisher

American Physical Society

Citation

Version: Final published version

ISSN

0031-9007

1079-7114

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