Search for a new gauge boson in electron-nucleus fixed-target scattering by the APEX experiment.

Academic Article

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 + e- 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+ e- reaction, and set an upper limit of α'/α ~/= 10(-6). Our findings demonstrate that fixed-target searches can explore a new, wide, and important range of masses and couplings for sub-GeV forces.
  • Authors

  • Abrahamyan, S
  • Ahmed, Z
  • Allada, K
  • Anez, D
  • Averett, T
  • Barbieri, A
  • Bartlett, K
  • Beacham, J
  • Bono, J
  • Boyce, JR
  • Brindza, P
  • Camsonne, A
  • Cranmer, K
  • Dalton, MM
  • de Jager, CW
  • Donaghy, J
  • Essig, R
  • Field, C
  • Folts, E
  • Gasparian, A
  • Goeckner-Wald, N
  • Gomez, J
  • Graham, M
  • Hansen, J-O
  • Higinbotham, DW
  • Holmstrom, T
  • Huang, J
  • Iqbal, S
  • Jaros, J
  • Jensen, E
  • Kelleher, A
  • Khandaker, M
  • LeRose, JJ
  • Lindgren, R
  • Liyanage, N
  • Long, Elena
  • 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
  • Status

    Publication Date

  • November 4, 2011
  • Has Subject Area

    Published In

    Keywords

  • hep-ex
  • hep-ph
  • nucl-ex
  • Digital Object Identifier (doi)

    Pubmed Id

  • 22181599
  • Start Page

  • 191804
  • Volume

  • 107
  • Issue

  • 19