arXiv subjects

Bogdan Wojtsekhowski

Publications and source records attributed to Bogdan Wojtsekhowski.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Sensitivity of a Missing-Mass Search for a Light Dark Photon with a Positron Beam on a Hydrogen Target

We present a Geant4-based simulation study of the sensitivity to a light dark photon, $A'$, using a positron beam incident on a thin liquid-hydrogen target and a high-resolution forward electromagnetic calorimeter for final-state photon reconstruction. This study is motivated by ongoing research and development toward a low-energy positron facility at Jefferson Lab. The proposed search employs the missing-mass technique in the annihilation-in-flight process $e^+e^- \to γA'$, providing sensitivity to the $A'$ independently of its decay mode. We evaluate the expected backgrounds from standard QED annihilation and bremsstrahlung processes and present the projected sensitivity to the kinetic-mixing parameter $ε^2$ as a function of the $A'$ mass. The experiment with 500~MeV beam will provide the data for $A'$ mass range 7-19 MeV. The projected sensitivity on $ε^2$ is $4\times10^{-8}$ at $m_{A'}=19$~MeV.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2026

The BigBite Calorimeter for the Super Bigbite Spectrometer Program at Jefferson Lab

We report features of the design, construction, installation, and performance of the BigBite Calorimeter (BBCal), a lead-glass electromagnetic calorimeter constructed as part of the BigBite Spectrometer (BBS), which served as the electron arm for the Super Bigbite Spectrometer (SBS) program of high-precision neutron electromagnetic form factor measurements in Hall A at Jefferson Lab. As a total-absorption calorimeter, BBCal provided the primary electron trigger for BBS, detecting (quasi-) elastically scattered electrons in the 1-4 GeV energy range with an energy resolution of approximately 6.2%, position resolution of 1.2 cm, and timing resolution of 0.5 ns.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2025

Status of the Proton EDM Experiment (pEDM)

The Proton EDM Experiment (pEDM) is the first direct search for the proton electric dipole moment (EDM) with the aim of being the first experiment to probe the Standard Model (SM) prediction of any particle EDM. Phase-I of pEDM will achieve $10^{-29} e\cdot$cm, improving current indirect limits by four orders of magnitude. This will establish a new standard of precision in nucleon EDM searches and offer a unique sensitivity to better understand the Strong CP problem. The experiment is ideally positioned to explore physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM), with sensitivity to axionic dark matter via the signal of an oscillating proton EDM and across a wide mass range of BSM models from $\mathcal{O}(1\text{GeV})$ to $\mathcal{O}(10^3\text{TeV})$. Utilizing the frozen-spin technique in a highly symmetric storage ring that leverages existing infrastructure at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), pEDM builds upon the technological foundation and experimental expertise of the highly successful Muon $g$$-$$2$ Experiments. With significant R\&D and prototyping already underway, pEDM is preparing a conceptual design report (CDR) to offer a cost-effective, high-impact path to discovering new sources of CP violation and advancing our understanding of fundamental physics. It will play a vital role in complementing the physics goals of the next-generation collider while simultaneously contributing to sustaining particle physics research and training early-career researchers during gaps between major collider operations.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2023

Concept of Very-Asymmetric Lepton Collider for Dark Matter Search

Accelerator-based searches for dark matter are aiming for high sensitivity and need an experimental setup with high luminosity. This field of research is often called intensity frontier physics. One of the best motivated portals of interaction between dark matter and ordinary matter is a dark photon which could be observed as a resonance in the invariant mass of the decay products. Electron-positron collisions are known to be the cleanest interaction for such a study. In this paper we propose a scheme for a collider which allows for a luminosity of a few orders of magnitude higher than could be obtained in a conventional symmetric collider and with a few times higher accessible mass than is possible using a positron beam and a fixed target approach. The key concept is based on asymmetric energies: a high-energy circulating positron beam and a low-energy high-intensity electron beam, and optimization of the beam interaction region. We present here a configuration of a collision region of 10 MeV electron and 4 GeV positron beams.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2022

Simulation of the spatial shift in detector response for polarized protons within a calorimeter

Measurement of the helicity dependent elastic electron-proton scattering cross section provides a key means of investigating parity violation within the proton. However, such measurements exhibit potential instrumental effects associated with the detection of polarized recoiled protons. In particular, spin-orbit interactions within a massive detector induce a systematic spatial shift in the detector signal. In this study, we determine the size of this shift using the Geant4 simulation toolkit. For a typical hadron calorimeter, we found a polarization dependent shift on the order of 0.01-0.1 mm, multiple orders of magnitude smaller than the typical spatial resolution seen in hadronic calorimeters. Additionally, we provide the custom modifications required of the Geant4 source code to implement the quasi-elastic scattering of polarized protons incident on nuclei in the detector. The modifications are readily extendable to generic matter sources, and can be used for the study of additional spin dependent observables in Geant4.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2020

Flavor Decomposition of Nucleon Form Factors

The nucleon form factors provide fundamental knowledge about the strong interaction. We review the flavor composition of the nucleon form factors and focus on an analysis of the possible impact of the s-quark contribution. A future experiment is presented to measure the strange form factor at large momentum transfer.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2018

High energy photon polarimeter for astrophysics

A high-energy photon polarimeter for astrophysics studies in the energy range from 10 MeV to 800 MeV is considered. The proposed concept uses a stack of silicon micro-strip detectors where they play the roles of both a converter and a tracker. The purpose of this paper is to outline the parameters of such a polarimeter and to estimate the productivity of measurements. Our study supported by a Monte Carlo simulation shows that with a one-year observation period the polarimeter will provide 6% accuracy of the polarization degree for photon energies above 100 MeV, which would be a significant advance relative to the currently explored energy range of a few MeV. The proposed polarimeter design could easily be adjusted to the specific photon energy range to maximize efficiency if needed.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2015

The Heavy Photon Search Test Detector

The Heavy Photon Search (HPS), an experiment to search for a hidden sector photon in fixed target electroproduction, is preparing for installation at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) in the Fall of 2014. As the first stage of this project, the HPS Test Run apparatus was constructed and operated in 2012 to demonstrate the experiment's technical feasibility and to confirm that the trigger rates and occupancies are as expected. This paper describes the HPS Test Run apparatus and readout electronics and its performance. In this setting, a heavy photon can be identified as a narrow peak in the e$^+$e$^-$ invariant mass spectrum, above the trident background or as a narrow invariant mass peak with a decay vertex displaced from the production target, so charged particle tracking and vertexing are needed for its detection. In the HPS Test Run, charged particles are measured with a compact forward silicon microstrip tracker inside a dipole magnet. Electromagnetic showers are detected in a PbW0$_{4}$ crystal calorimeter situated behind the magnet, and are used to trigger the experiment and identify electrons and positrons. Both detectors are placed close to the beam line and split top-bottom. This arrangement provides sensitivity to low-mass heavy photons, allows clear passage of the unscattered beam, and avoids the spray of degraded electrons coming from the target. The discrimination between prompt and displaced e$^+$e$^-$ pairs requires the first layer of silicon sensors be placed only 10~cm downstream of the target. The expected signal is small, and the trident background huge, so the experiment requires very large statistics. Accordingly, the HPS Test Run utilizes high-rate readout and data acquisition electronics and a fast trigger to exploit the essentially 100% duty cycle of the CEBAF accelerator at JLab.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2015

Large Size GEM for Super Bigbite Spectrometer (SBS) Polarimeter for Hall A 12 GeV program at JLab

We report on the R&D effort in the design and construction of a large size Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) for the Proton Polarimeter Back Tracker (BT) of the Super Bigbite Spectrometer (SBS) in Hall A at Thomas Jefferson National Laboratory (JLab). The SBS BT GEM trackers consist of two sets of five large GEM xchambers of size 60 x 200 cm2. The GEM chamber is a vertical stack of four GEM modules, each with an active area of 60 x 50 cm2. We have built and tested several prototypes and the construction of GEM modules for SBS BT is ongoing. We describe in this paper the design and construction of the GEM module prototype as well as the preliminary results on performance from tests carried out in our detector lab and during test beam at Fermi National Laboratory (Fermilab).

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2014

Nucleon form factors program with SBS at JLAB

The physics of the nucleon form factors is a fundamental part of the Jefferson Laboratory program. We review the achievements of the 6-GeV era and the program with the 12- GeV beam with the SBS spectrometer in Hall A, with a focus on the nucleon ground state properties.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2013

A Scaler-Based Data Acquisition System for Measuring Parity-Violating Asymmetry in Deep Inelastic Scattering

An experiment that measured the parity-violating asymmetries in deep inelastic scattering was completed at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in experimental Hall A. From these asymmetries, a combination of the quark weak axial charge could be extracted with a factor of five improvement in precision over world data. To achieve this, asymmetries at the $10^{-4}$ level needed to be measured at event rates up to 600 kHz and the high pion background typical to deep inelastic scattering experiments needed to be rejected efficiently. A specialized data acquisition (DAQ) system with intrinsic particle identification (PID) was successfully developed and used: The pion contamination in the electron samples was controlled at the order of $2\times 10^{-4}$ or below with an electron efficiency of higher than 91 % during most of the production period of the experiment, the systematic uncertainty in the measured asymmetry due to DAQ deadtime was below 0.5 %, and the statistical quality of the asymmetry measurement agreed with the Gaussian distribution to over five orders of magnitudes. The DAQ system is presented here with an emphasis on its design scheme, the achieved PID performance, deadtime effect and the capability of measuring small asymmetries.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2010

An Electron Fixed Target Experiment to Search for a New Vector Boson A' Decaying to e+e-

We describe an experiment to search for a new vector boson A' with weak coupling alpha' > 6 x 10^{-8} alpha to electrons (alpha=e^2/4pi) in the mass range 65 MeV < m_A' < 550 MeV. New vector bosons with such small couplings arise naturally from a small kinetic mixing of the "dark photon" A' with the photon -- one of the very few ways in which new forces can couple to the Standard Model -- and have received considerable attention as an explanation of various dark matter related anomalies. A' bosons are produced by radiation off an electron beam, and could appear as narrow resonances with small production cross-section in the trident e+e- spectrum. We summarize the experimental approach described in a proposal submitted to Jefferson Laboratory's PAC35, PR-10-009. This experiment, the A' Experiment (APEX), uses the electron beam of the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility at Jefferson Laboratory (CEBAF) at energies of ~1-4 GeV incident on 0.5-10% radiation length Tungsten wire mesh targets, and measures the resulting e+e- pairs to search for the A' using the High Resolution Spectrometer and the septum magnet in Hall A. With a ~1 month run, APEX will achieve very good sensitivity because the statistics of e+e- pairs will be ~10,000 times larger in the explored mass range than any previous search for the A' boson. These statistics and the excellent mass resolution of the spectrometers allow sensitivity to alpha'/alpha one to three orders of magnitude below current limits, in a region of parameter space of great theoretical and phenomenological interest. Similar experiments could also be performed at other facilities, such as the Mainz Microtron.

hep-ph↗