The physics program of the PADME experiment

PADME (Positron Annihilation into Dark Matter Experiment) is a fixed target experiment located at the Beam Test Facility (BTF) at the Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (LNF) designed to search for a massive dark photon A' in the process e+e- into γA', using a positron beam of energy up to 550 MeV.

Invisible decays of axion-like particles: constraints and prospects

Axion-like particles (ALPs) can provide a portal to new states of a dark sector. We study the phenomenology of this portal when the ALP mainly decays invisibly, while its interaction with the standard model sector proceeds essentially via its coupling to electrons and/or photons. We reanalyse existing limits from various collider and beam dump experiments, including in particular ALP production via electron/positron interactions, in addition to the usual production through ALP-photon coupling. We further discuss the interplay between these limits and the intriguing possibility of explaining simultaneously the muon and electron magnetic moment anomalies. Finally, we illustrate the prospects of ALP searches at the LNF positron fixed-target experiment PADME, and the future reach of an upgraded experimental setup.

Possibilities of Detecting Light Dark Matter Produced via Drell-Yan Channel in a Fixed Target Experiment

This work presents the complete modeling scheme of production and detection of two types of light dark matter (LDM)—Dirac fermionic and scalar particles—in a fixed target experiment using SHiP experiment as an example. The Drell-Yan process was chosen as a channel of LDM production; the deep inelastic scattering on lead nuclei was simulated and analyzed in the detector; the production of secondary particles was modeled with the aid of PYTHIA6 toolkit. Obtained observable parameters of secondary particles produced in events associated with LDM were compared with the background neutrino events that were simulated using GENIE toolkit. The yield of LDM events was calculated with various model parameter values. Using machine learning methods, a classifier that is able to distinguish LDM events from neutrino background events based on the observed parameters with high precision has been developed.

Design of the barrel and endcap DIRC detectors for particle identification in PANDA

The PANDA experiment at the future Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) in Darmstadt/Germany aims to investigate fundamental questions of hadron physics. PANDA is designed as a fixed-target experiment for an antiproton beam with a momentum range of 1.5 GeV/[Formula: see text] to 15 GeV/[Formula: see text]. In order to obtain an excellent particle identification of pions and kaons, two independent DIRC detectors have been developed for two adjacent spatial regions. The Barrel DIRC covers polar angles from [Formula: see text]–[Formula: see text] and performs [Formula: see text] separation with [Formula: see text] or more for momenta from 0.5 to 3.5 GeV/[Formula: see text]. The novel Endcap Disc DIRC (EDD) detector will cover the forward polar angles between [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] and will provide a [Formula: see text] separation from 0.5 GeV/[Formula: see text] up to 4 GeV/[Formula: see text] with a separation power at least [Formula: see text]. The design of the Barrel DIRC is based on the successful BaBar DIRC and the SuperB FDIRC R&D with several improvements to optimize the performance for PANDA. Both PANDA DIRC detectors use synthetic fused silica as material for radiators and light guides and lifetime-enhance Microchannel Plate PMTs (MCP-PMTs) as sensors. The Barrel DIRC uses narrow bars as a radiator, a prism-shaped expansion volume and a complex multi-layer spherical lens as focusing system. The Cherenkov radiator for the EDD is a large, 2 cm thick fused silica plate that is divided into four identical quadrants. A combination of bars and cylindrical elements with aluminum coating focus the Cherenkov light on the MCP-PMTs with segmented anode plates. The technical design of the two DIRC detectors and the performance of prototypes, tested in a mixed hadron beam at CERN, will be discussed.

J-PARC heavy ion experiment

J-PARC Heavy Ion project (J-PARC-HI) is a future fixed target experiment to study the properties of the dense matter created by the heavy-ion collisions with 1–12[Formula: see text]AGeV/[Formula: see text] at J-PARC. This project aims to search for the QCD phase boundary and its critical endpoint and to study the equation of state of the dense matter at J-PARC. For this purpose, the high-intensity beam and the precision detector with high-speed DAQ are necessary. J-PARC will be upgraded to produce the world’s highest intensity of heavy-ion beam by adding a new compact heavy-ion linac and a booster ring and utilizing the existing RCS and MR synchrotrons. We will construct the multi-purpose spectrometer with a large acceptance to measure hadrons, dileptons and photons, and their correlations and fluctuations. In these proceedings, we will report the current status of the project, the design of the detector configuration, and detector R&D.

Development of the BM@N Web Monitoring

The BM@N experiment is a fixed target experiment and the first stage of the NICA project. Its development is of great importance for the NICA experiment as a whole. In order to effectively conduct the experiment, a convenient and unified monitoring tool is needed. The monitoring system backend is based on the FairRoot package while its frontend uses the CERN jsROOT library. The user is able to monitor any detector subsystem, select specific detector station, plane, time or strip profile histograms in 1/2/3D view. The QA functions currently are presented by reference run auto-selecting and consequent overlaying histograms.