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Charged kaon mass measurement using the Cherenkov effect
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Charged kaon mass measurement using the Cherenkov effect

P Hanlet, S Hansen, M Heffner, C Johnstone, D Kaplan, O Kamaev, J Kilmer, J Klay, M Kostin, D Lange, …
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment, Vol.615(1), pp.27-32
2010
DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2009.12.082
url
https://arxiv.org/pdf/0909.0971View
Open Access

Abstract

The two most recent and precise measurements of the charged kaon mass use X-rays from kaonic atoms and report uncertainties of 14 and 22 ppm yet differ from each other by 122 ppm. We describe the possibility of an independent mass measurement using the measurement of Cherenkov light from a narrow-band beam of kaons, pions, and protons. This technique was demonstrated using data taken opportunistically by the Main Injector Particle Production experiment at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory which recorded beams of protons, kaons, and pions ranging in momentum from +37 to +63GeV/c. The measured value is 491.3±1.7MeV/c2, which is within 1.4σ of the world average. An improvement of two orders of magnitude in precision would make this technique useful for resolving the ambiguity in the X-ray data and may be achievable in a dedicated experiment.
Charged kaon mass Cherenkov effect RICH detector

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