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G. Finocchiaro

Publications and source records attributed to G. Finocchiaro.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
arXiv2022

Cross-section measurement of two-photon annihilation in-flight of positrons at $\sqrt{s}=20$ MeV with the PADME detector

The inclusive cross-section of annihilation in flight $e^+e^-\rightarrowγγ$ of 430 MeV positrons with atomic electrons of a thin diamond target has been measured with the PADME detector at the Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati. The two photons produced in the process were detected by an electromagnetic calorimeter made of BGO crystals. This measurement is the first one based on the direct detection of the photon pair and one of the most precise for positron energies below 1 GeV. This measurement represents a necessary step to search for dark sector particles and mediators weakly coupled to photons and/or electrons with masses ranging from 1 MeV to 20 MeV with PADME. The measurement agrees with the Next to Leading Order QED prediction within the overall 6% uncertainty.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2022

Commissioning of the PADME experiment with a positron beam

The PADME experiment is designed to search for a hypothetical dark photon $A^{\prime}$ produced in positron-electron annihilation using a bunched positron beam at the Beam Test Facility of the INFN Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati. The expected sensitivity to the $A^{\prime}$-photon mixing parameter $ε$ is 10$^{-3}$, for $A^{\prime}$ mass $\le$ 23.5 MeV/$c^{2}$ after collecting $\sim 10^{13}$ positrons-on-target. This paper presents the PADME detector status after commissioning in July 2019. In addition, the software algorithms employed to reconstruct physics objects, such as photons and charged particles, and the calibration procedures adopted are illustrated in detail. The results show that the experimental apparatus reaches the design performance, and is able to identify and measure standard electromagnetic processes, such as positron Bremsstrahlung, electron-positron annihilation into two photons.

physics.ins-det↗
arXiv2022

The PADME beam line Monte Carlo simulation

The PADME experiment at the DA$Φ$NE Beam-Test Facility (BTF) of the INFN Laboratory of Frascati is designed to search for invisible decays of dark sector particles produced in electron-positron annihilation events with a positron beam and a thin fixed target, by measuring the missing mass of single-photon final states. The presence of backgrounds originating from beam halo particles can significantly reduce the sensitivity of the experiment. To thoroughly understand the origin of the beam background contribution, a detailed Geant4-based Monte Carlo simulation has been developed, containing a full description of the detector together with the beam line and its optical elements. This simulation allows the full interactions of each particle to be described, both during beam line transport and during detection, a possibility which represents an innovative way to obtain reliable background predictions

hep-ex↗
arXiv2021

Precise measurement of the $D^0$ and $D^+$ lifetimes at Belle II

We report a measurement of the $D^0$ and $D^+$ lifetimes using $D^0\to K^-π^+$ and $D^+\to K^-π^+π^+$ decays reconstructed in $e^+e^-\to c\bar{c}$ data recorded by the Belle II experiment at the SuperKEKB asymmetric-energy $e^+e^-$ collider. The data, collected at center-of-mass energies at or near the $Υ(4S)$ resonance, correspond to an integrated luminosity of $72\,{\rm fb}^{-1}$. The results, $τ(D^0) = 410.5\pm1.1\,{\rm(stat)}\pm0.8\,{\rm(syst.)}\,{\rm fs}$ and $τ(D^+) = 1030.4\pm4.7\,{\rm(stat)}\pm3.1\,{\rm(syst.)}\,{\rm fs}$, are the most precise to date and are consistent with previous determinations.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2021

Search for $B^{+}\to K^{+}ν\barν$ decays using an inclusive tagging method at Belle II

A search for the flavor-changing neutral-current decay $B^{+}\to K^{+}ν\barν$ is performed at the Belle II experiment at the SuperKEKB asymmetric energy electron-positron collider. The results are based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $63\,\mbox{fb}^{-1}$ collected at the $Υ{(4S)}$ resonance and a sample of $9\,\mbox{fb}^{-1}$ collected at an energy $60\mathrm{\,Me\kern -0.1em V}$ below the resonance. A novel measurement method is employed, which exploits topological properties of the $B^{+}\to K^{+}ν\barν$ decay that differ from both generic bottom-meson decays and light-quark pair production. This inclusive tagging approach offers a higher signal efficiency compared to previous searches. No significant signal is observed. An upper limit on the branching fraction of $B^{+}\to K^{+}ν\barν$ of $4.1 \times 10^{-5}$ is set at the 90% confidence level.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2020

Characterisation and performance of the PADME electromagnetic calorimeter

The PADME experiment at the LNF Beam Test Facility searches for dark photons produced in the annihilation of positrons with the electrons of a fix target. The strategy is to look for the reaction $e^{+}+e^{-}\rightarrow γ+A'$, where $A'$ is the dark photon, which cannot be observed directly or via its decay products. The electromagnetic calorimeter plays a key role in the experiment by measuring the energy and position of the final-state $γ$. The missing four-momentum carried away by the $A'$ can be evaluated from this information and the particle mass inferred. This paper presents the design, construction, and calibration of the PADME's electromagnetic calorimeter. The results achieved in terms of equalisation, detection efficiency and energy resolution during the first phase of the experiment demonstrate the effectiveness of the various tools used to improve the calorimeter performance with respect to earlier prototypes.

physics.ins-det↗
arXiv2020

Measurements of the Absolute Branching Fractions of $B^\pm \to K^\pm X_{c\bar c}$

A study of the two body decays $B^\pm\rightarrow X_{c\bar c}K^\pm$, where X$_{c\bar c}$ refers to one charmonium state, is reported by BaBar collaboration using a data sample of 424 fb$^{-1}$. The absolute determination of branching fractions for these decays are significantly improved compared to previous BaBaR measurements. Evidence is found for the decay $B^+\rightarrow X(3872)K^+$ at the $3σ$ level. The absolute branching fraction ${\cal B}(B^+\rightarrow X(3872)K^+) = (2.1\pm0.6({\rm stat})\pm0.3({\rm syst}))\times 10^{-4}$ is measured for the first time. It follows that ${\cal B}(X(3872)\rightarrow J/ψπ^+π^-)=(4.1\pm1.3)\%$, supporting the hypothesis of a molecular component for this resonance.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2020

Precision measurement of the ${\cal B}(Υ(3S)\toτ^+τ^-)/{\cal B}(Υ(3S)\toμ^+μ^-)$ ratio

We report on a precision measurement of the ratio ${\cal R}_{τμ}^{Υ(3S)} = {\cal B}(Υ(3S)\toτ^+τ^-)/{\cal B}(Υ(3S)\toμ^+μ^-)$ using data collected with the BaBar detector at the SLAC PEP-II $e^+e^-$ collider. The measurement is based on a 28 fb$^{-1}$ data sample collected at a center-of-mass energy of 10.355 GeV corresponding to a sample of 122 million $Υ(3S)$ mesons. The ratio is measured to be ${\cal R}_{τμ}^{Υ(3S)} = 0.966 \pm 0.008_\mathrm{stat} \pm 0.014_\mathrm{syst}$ and is in agreement with the Standard Model prediction of 0.9948 within 2 standard deviations. The uncertainty in ${\cal R}_{τμ}^{Υ(3S)}$ is almost an order of magnitude smaller than the only previous measurement.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2020

Search for lepton-flavor violating decays $D^{0}\rightarrow X^{0}e^{\pm}μ^{\mp}$

We present a search for seven lepton-flavor-violating neutral charm decays of the type $D^{0}\rightarrow X^{0} e^{\pm} μ^{\mp}$, where $X^{0}$ represents a $π^{0}$, $K^{0}_{\rm S}$, $\bar{K^{*0}}$, $ρ^{0}$, $ϕ$, $ω$, or $η$ meson. The analysis is based on $468$ fb$^{-1}$ of $e^+e^-$ annihilation data collected at or close to the $Υ(4S)$ resonance with the BaBar detector at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. No significant signals are observed, and we establish 90\% confidence level upper limits on the branching fractions in the range $(5.0 - 22.5)\times 10^{-7}$. The limits are between one and two orders of magnitude more stringent than previous measurements.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2020

Search for an invisibly decaying $Z^{\prime}$ boson at Belle II in $e^+ e^- \to μ^+ μ^- (e^{\pm} μ^{\mp})$ plus missing energy final states

Theories beyond the standard model often predict the existence of an additional neutral boson, the $Z^{\prime}$. Using data collected by the Belle II experiment during 2018 at the SuperKEKB collider, we perform the first searches for the invisible decay of a $Z^{\prime}$ in the process $e^+ e^- \to μ^+ μ^- Z^{\prime}$ and of a lepton-flavor-violating $Z^{\prime}$ in $e^+ e^- \to e^{\pm} μ^{\mp} Z^{\prime}$. We do not find any excess of events and set 90\% credibility level upper limits on the cross sections of these processes. We translate the former, in the framework of an $L_μ-L_τ$ theory, into upper limits on the $Z^{\prime}$ coupling constant at the level of $5 \times 10^{-2}$ -- $1$ $M_{Z^\prime}\leq 6$ GeV/$c^2$.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2020

Search for rare or forbidden decays of the $D^{0}$ meson

We present a search for nine lepton-number-violating and three lepton-flavor-violating neutral charm decays of the type $D^0\rightarrow h^{\prime -} h^{-}\ell^{\prime +} \ell^{+}$ and $D^0\rightarrow h^{\prime -} h^{+}\ell^{\prime\pm} \ell^{\mp}$, where $h$ and $h^{\prime}$ represent a $K$ or $π$ meson and $\ell$ and $\ell^{\prime}$ an electron or muon. The analysis is based on $468$ fb$^{-1}$ of $e^+e^-$ annihilation data collected at or close to the $Y(4S)$ resonance with the BaBar detector at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. No significant signal is observed for any of the twelve modes and we establish 90% confidence level upper limits on the branching fractions in the range $(1.0 - 30.6)\times 10^{-7}$. The limits are between one and three orders of magnitude times more stringent than previous measurements.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2019

Search for $B^- \to Λ\bar p ν\barν$ with the BABAR experiment

We search for the rare flavor-changing neutral current process $B^- \to Λ{\overline p} ν{\overlineν}$ using data from the BABAR experiment. A total of 424 fb$^{-1}$ of $e^+e^-$ collision data collected at the center-of-mass energy of the $Υ$(4S) resonance is used in this study, corresponding to a sample of ${(471 \pm 3) \times 10^{6}}$ $B\overline{B}$ pairs. Signal $B^- \to Λ{\overline p} ν{\overlineν}$ candidates are identified by first fully reconstructing a $B^+$ decay in one of many possible exclusive decays to hadronic final states, then examining detector activity that is not associated with this reconstructed $B^+$ decay for evidence of a signal $B^- \to Λ{\overline p} ν{\overlineν}$ decay. The data yield is found to be consistent with the expected background contribution under a null signal hypothesis, resulting in an upper limit of ${{\cal B} (B^- \to Λ{\overline p} ν{\overlineν}) < 3.0\times 10^{-5}}$ at the $90\%$ confidence level.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2019

Measurement of the integrated luminosity of the Phase 2 data of the Belle II experiment

From April to July 2018, a data sample at the peak energy of the $Υ(4S)$ resonance was collected with the Belle~II detector at the SuperKEKB electron-positron collider. This is the first data sample of the Belle~II experiment. Using Bhabha and digamma events, we measure the integrated luminosity of the data sample to be ($496.3 \pm 0.3 \pm 3.0$)~pb$^{-1}$, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. This work provides a basis for future luminosity measurements at Belle~II.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2018

First Measurements of Beam Backgrounds at SuperKEKB

The high design luminosity of the SuperKEKB electron-positron collider is expected to result in challenging levels of beam-induced backgrounds in the interaction region. Properly simulating and mitigating these backgrounds is critical to the success of the Belle~II experiment. We report on measurements performed with a suite of dedicated beam background detectors, collectively known as BEAST II, during the so-called Phase 1 commissioning run of SuperKEKB in 2016, which involved operation of both the high energy ring (HER) of 7 GeV electrons as well as the low energy ring (LER) of 4 GeV positrons. We describe the BEAST II detector systems, the simulation of beam backgrounds, and the measurements performed. The measurements include standard ones of dose rates versus accelerator conditions, and more novel investigations, such as bunch-by-bunch measurements of injection backgrounds and measurements sensitive to the energy spectrum and angular distribution of fast neutrons. We observe beam-gas, Touschek, beam-dust, and injection backgrounds. We do not observe significant synchrotron radiation, as expected. Measured LER beam-gas backgrounds and Touschek backgrounds in both rings are slightly elevated, on average three times larger than the levels predicted by simulation. HER beam-gas backgrounds are on on average two orders of magnitude larger than predicted. Systematic uncertainties and channel-to-channel variations are large, so that these excesses constitute only 1-2 sigma level effects. Neutron background rates are higher than predicted and should be studied further. We will measure the remaining beam background processes, due to colliding beams, in the imminent commissioning Phase 2. These backgrounds are expected to be the most critical for Belle II, to the point of necessitating replacement of detector components during the Phase 3 (full-luminosity) operation of SuperKEB.

physics.ins-det↗
arXiv2014

Measuring Propagation Speed of Coulomb Fields

The problem of gravity propagation has been subject of discussion for quite a long time: Newton, Laplace and, in relatively more modern times, Eddington pointed out that, if gravity propagated with finite velocity, planets motion around the sun would become unstable due to a torque originating from time lag of the gravitational interactions. Such an odd behavior can be found also in electromagnetism, when one computes the propagation of the electric fields generated by a set of uniformly moving charges. As a matter of fact the Liénard-Weichert retarded potential leads to a formula indistinguishable from the one obtained assuming that the electric field propagates with infinite velocity. Feyman explanation for this apparent paradox was based on the fact that uniform motions last indefinitely. To verify such an explanation, we performed an experiment to measure the time/space evolution of the electric field generated by an uniformely moving electron beam. The results we obtain on such a finite lifetime kinematical state seem compatible with an electric field rigidly carried by the beam itself.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2014

Evidence for the decay B0 --> omega omega and search for B0 --> omega phi

We describe searches for B meson decays to the charmless vector-vector final states omega omega and omega phi with 471 x 10^6 B Bbar pairs produced in e+ e- annihilation at sqrt(s) = 10.58 GeV using the BABAR detector at the PEP-II collider at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. We measure the branching fraction B(B0 --> omega omega) = (1.2 +- 0.3 +0.3-0.2) x 10^-6, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic, corresponding to a significance of 4.4 standard deviations. We also determine the upper limit B(B0 --> omega phi) < 0.7 x 10^-6 at 90% confidence level. These measurements provide the first evidence for the decay B0 --> omega omega, and an improvement of the upper limit for the decay B0 --> omega phi.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2013

Study of the decay $\bar{B}^{0}\rightarrowΛ_{c}^{+}\bar{p}π^{+}π^{-}$ and its intermediate states

We study the decay $\bar{B}^{0}\rightarrowΛ_{c}^{+}\bar{p}π^{+}π^{-}$, reconstructing the Λ_{c}^{+} baryon in the $p K^{-}π^{+}$ mode, using a data sample of $467\times 10^{6}$ $B\bar{B}$ pairs collected with the BaBar detector at the PEP-2 storage rings at SLAC. We measure branching fractions for decays with intermediate $Σ_{c}$ baryons to be ${\cal B}[\bar{B}^{0}\rightarrowΣ_{c}(2455)^{++}\bar{p}π^{-}]=(21.3 \pm 1.0 \pm 1.0 \pm 5.5) \times 10^{-5}$, ${\cal B}[\bar{B}^{0}\rightarrowΣ_{c}(2520)^{++}\bar{p}π^{-}]=(11.5\pm 1.0 \pm 0.5 \pm 3.0)\times 10^{-5}$, ${\cal B}[\bar{B}^{0}\rightarrowΣ_{c}(2455)^{0}\bar{p}π^{+}]=(9.1 \pm 0.7 \pm 0.4 \pm 2.4)\times10^{-5}$, and ${\cal B}[\bar{B}^{0}\rightarrowΣ_{c}(2520)^{0}\bar{p}π^{+}]= (2.2 \pm 0.7 \pm 0.1\pm 0.6) \times 10^{-5}$, where the uncertainties are statistical, systematic, and due to the uncertainty on the $Λ_{c}^{+}\rightarrow\proton\Kmπ^{+}$ branching fraction, respectively. For decays without $Σ_{c}(2455)$ or $Σ_{c}(2520)$ resonances, we measure ${\cal B}[\bar{B}^{0}\rightarrowΛ_{c}^{+}\bar{p}π^{+}π^{-}]_{\mathrm{non-Σ_{c}}}=(79 \pm 4 \pm 4 \pm 20)\times10^{-5}$. The total branching fraction is determined to be ${\cal B}[\bar{B}^{0}\rightarrowΛ_{c}^{+}\bar{p}π^{+}π^{-}]_{\mathrm{total}}=(123 \pm 5 \pm 7 \pm 32)\times10^{-5}$. We examine multibody mass combinations in the resonant three-particle $Σ_{c}\bar{p}π$ final states and in the four-particle $Λ_{c}^{+}\bar{p}π^{+}π^{-}$ final state, and observe different characteristics for the $\bar{p}π$ combination in neutral versus doubly-charged $Σ_{c}$ decays.

hep-ex↗