arXiv subjects

Dinko Pocanic

Publications and source records attributed to Dinko Pocanic.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Muon magnetic anomaly: experimental status and prospects

The past five years have brought significant new results on the muon magnetic anomaly, $a_\mu = (g_\mu - 2)/2$, and on the hadronic vacuum polarization (HVP) contribution dominating the uncertainty $\Delta a_\mu$. Serious tension has emerged between the experimental and standard model(SM) values for $a_\mu$, as well as between the SM and the first precise lattice QCD values. We review the current experimental and theoretical status of $a_\mu$, along with the prospects for new results,focusing on MUonE,a new experiment at CERN, aiming to evaluate the leading order contribution to a(HVP) in a direct measurement of muonic Bhabha scattering.

hep-ph↗

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↗

arXiv2022

The storage ring proton EDM experiment

We describe a proposal to search for an intrinsic electric dipole moment (EDM) of the proton with a sensitivity of \targetsens, based on the vertical rotation of the polarization of a stored proton beam. The New Physics reach is of order $10^~3$TeV mass scale. Observation of the proton EDM provides the best probe of CP-violation in the Higgs sector, at a level of sensitivity that may be inaccessible to electron-EDM experiments. The improvement in the sensitivity to $\theta_{QCD}$, a parameter crucial in axion and axion dark matter physics, is about three orders of magnitude.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

A study of muon-electron elastic scattering in a test beam

In 2018, a test run with muons in the North Area at CERN was performed, running parasitically downstream of the COMPASS spectrometer. The aim of the test was to investigate the elastic interactions of muons on atomic electrons, in an experimental configuration similar to the one proposed by the project MUonE, which plans to perform a very precise measurement of the differential cross-section of the elastic interactions. COMPASS was taking data with a 190 GeV pion beam, stopped in a tungsten beam dump: the muons from these pions decays passed through a setup including a graphite target followed by 10 planes of Si tracker and a BGO crystal electromagnetic calorimeter placed at the end of the tracker. The elastic scattering events were analysed, and compared to expectations from MonteCarlo simulation.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2021

Systematic and Statistical Uncertainties of the Hilbert-Transform Based High-precision FID Frequency Extraction Method

Pulsed nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is widely used in high-precision magnetic field measurements. The absolute value of the magnetic field is determined from the precession frequency of nuclear magnetic moments. The Hilbert transform is widely used to extract the phase function from the observed free induction decay (FID) signal and then its frequency. In this paper, a detailed implementation of a Hilbert-transform based FID frequency extraction method is described. How artifacts and noise level in the FID signal affect the extracted phase function are derived analytically. A method of mitigating the artifacts in the extracted phase function of an FID is discussed. Correlations between noises of the phase function samples are studied for different noise spectra. We discovered that the error covariance matrix for the extracted phase function is nearly singular and improper for constructing the $\chi^2$ used in the fitting routine. A down-sampling method for fixing the singular covariance matrix has been developed, so that the minimum $\chi^2$-fit yields properly the statistical uncertainty of the extracted frequency. Other practical methods of obtaining the statistical uncertainty are also discussed.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2017

Evaluating $V_{ud}$ from neutron beta decays

Although well studied, the neutron still offers a unique laboratory for precise tests of Standard Model (SM) predictions. Neutron decay is free of nuclear structure corrections present in nuclear beta decays, and, with a $10^8$ times larger branching ratio than the theoretically cleaner pion beta decay, it is more readily accessible to experimental study than the latter. Measurements at sufficient precision of the neutron lifetime, and of correlations in free neutron beta decay, offer several stringent tests of the SM, including the weak quark couplings (quark-lepton universality), and certain extensions beyond the standard $V-A$ weak interaction theory. This paper focuses on the long-running free neutron beta decay experimental program aimed at obtaining an independent determination of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) mixing matrix element $V_{ud}$. We discuss the present state of precision achieved in this program and briefly review the currently active projects, as well as the expected near-term improvements in the field.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2015

Allowed rare pion and muon decays as tests of the Standard Model

Simple dynamics, few available decay channels, and extremely well controlled radiative and loop corrections, make pion and muon decays a sensitive means for testing the underlying symmetries, the universality of weak fermion couplings, as well as for study of pion structure and chiral dynamics. We review the current state of experimental study of the allowed rare decays of charged pions: (a) electronic, $π^+ \to e^+ν_e$, or $π_{e2}$, (b) radiative, $π^+ \to e^+ν_eγ$, or $π_{e2γ}$, and (c) semileptonic, $π^+\to π^0 e^+ ν$, or $π_{e3}$, as well as muon radiative decay, $μ^+\to e^+ ν_{\text{e}}\barν_μγ$. Taken together, these data present an internally consistent picture that also agrees well with Standard Model (SM) predictions. However, even following the great strides of the recent decades, experimental accuracy is lagging far behind that of the theoretical description for all above processes. We review the implications of the present state of knowledge and prospects for further improvement in the near term.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2014

Experimental study of rare charged pion decays

The combination of simple dynamics, small number of available decay channels, and extremely well controlled radiative and loop corrections, make charged pion decays a sensitive means for testing the underlying symmetries and the universality of weak fermion couplings, as well as for improving our understanding of pion structure and chiral dynamics. This paper reviews the current state of experimental study of the allowed rare decays of charged pions: (a) leptonic, $π^+ \to e^+ν_e$, or $π_{e2}$, (b) radiative, $π^+ \to e^+ν_eγ$, or $π_{e2γ}$, and $π^+ \to e^+ν_e e^+e^-$, or $π_{e2ee}$, and (c) semileptonic, $π^+\to π^0 e^+ ν$, or $π_{e3}$. Taken together, the combined data set presents an internally consistent picture that also agrees well with standard model predictions. The internal consistency is illustrated well by the $π_{e2}$ branching ratio of $(R_{e/μ}^π)^{\rm PIBETA} = (1.2366 \pm 0.0064) \times 10^{-4}$ extracted in this work from the PIBETA measurement of the $π_{e3}$ decay and the current best value for the CKM matrix element $V_{ud}$. However, even after the great progress of the recent decades, experimental precision is lagging far behind that of the theoretical description for all above processes. We review the implications of the present state of knowledge and prospects for further improvement in the near term.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2004

A Review of Rare Pion and Muon Decays

After a decade of no measurements of pion and muon rare decays, PIBETA, a new experimental program is producing its first results. We report on a new experimental study of the pion beta decay, Pi(+) -> Pi(0) e(+) Nu, the Pi(e2 gamma) radiative decay, Pi(+) -> e(+) Nu Gamma, and muon radiative decay, Mu -> e Nu Gamma. The new results represent four- to six-fold improvements in precision over the previous measurements. Excellent agreement with Standard Model predictions is observed in all channels except for one kinematic region of the Pi(e2 gamma) radiative decay involving energetic photons and lower-energy positrons.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2003

A new evaluation of the pion weak form factors

We have used the PIBETA large acceptance detector for a precise measurement of the $π^+ \to e^+νγ$ radiative decay at rest, with broad phase space coverage. Using the CVC value for the pion vector form factor, $F_V = 0.0259(5)$, we have obtained a new value of the pion axial-vector form factor $γ= F_A/F_V = 0.429(14)$. However, significant deviations from the SM predictions are evident in our data. The discrepancy can be accounted for by introducing a pion tensor form factor of $F_T = -0.0016(3)$. The question of the true nature of the observed deviations remains open pending further theoretical and experimental study.

hep-ex↗

arXiv1994

Study of Chiral Invariance Using Pions

We review two manifestations of chiral symmetry breaking in the pion sector. First, we examine the $ππ$ scattering amplitude at threshold, which is completely determined by the chiral symmetry breaking part of the strong interaction, and, thus, directly constrains the form of the low energy effective lagrangians. We review the current status of the $ππ$ scattering lengths in view of the recent results on reactions $πN \toππN$ near threshold, and discuss the needed improvements. Second, we focus on the rate of the pion beta decay, determined at the tree level by the CVC hypothesis, a remnant of chiral symmetry breaking. Precise knowledge of the $πβ$ decay rate constrains CKM unitarity, and, thus, can be used to distinguish among certain extensions of the minimal Standard Model. Present status of CKM unitarity, and the PIBETA experiment at PSI are discussed.

hep-ph↗

arXiv1994

Summary of $π$--$π$ Scattering Experiments

Present status of the study of the low energy $ππ$ interaction is reviewed, including the recent results on reactions $πN \toππN$ near threshold. Current experimental values of s-wave $ππ$ scattering lengths are compared with predictions of various theoretical models. Required experimental and theoretical improvements are discussed, in particular the need for a new $K_{e4}$ decay measurement, and a more reliable theoretical interpretation of the near-threshold $πN \toππN$ data.

hep-ph↗