arXiv subjects

K. S. Khaw

Publications and source records attributed to K. S. Khaw.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

A compact frozen-spin trap for the search for the electric dipole moment of the muon

The electric dipole moments~(EDM) of fundamental particles inherently violate parity~(P) and time-reversal~(T) symmetries. By virtue of the CPT theorem in quantum field theory, the latter also implies the violation of the combined charge-conjugation and parity~(CP) symmetry. We aim to measure the EDM of the muon using the frozen-spin technique within a compact storage trap. This method exploits the high effective electric field, \$E \approx 165\$ MV/m, experienced in the rest frame of the muon with a momentum of about 23 MeV/c when it passes through a solenoidal magnetic field of \$|\vec{B}|=2.5\$ T. In this paper, we outline the fundamental considerations for a muon EDM search and present a conceptual design for a demonstration experiment to be conducted at secondary muon beamlines of the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland. In Phase~I, with an anticipated data acquisition period of 200 days, the expected sensitivity to a muon EDM is 4E-21 ecm. In a subsequent phase, Phase~II, we propose to improve the sensitivity to 6E-23 ecm using a dedicated instrument installed on a different beamline that produces muons of momentum 125 MeV/c}.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2023

First observation of cyclotron radiation from MeV-scale ${\rm e}^{pm}$ following nuclear beta decay

We present an apparatus for detection of cyclotron radiation that allows a frequency-based beta energy determination in the 5 keV to 5 MeV range, characteristic of nuclear beta decays. The cyclotron frequency of the radiating beta particles in a magnetic field is used to determine the beta energy precisely. Our work establishes the foundation to apply the cyclotron radiation emission spectroscopy (CRES) technique, developed by the Project 8 collaboration, far beyond the 18-keV tritium endpoint region. We report initial measurements of beta^-s from 6He and beta^+s from 19Ne decays to demonstrate the broadband response of our detection system and assess potential systematic uncertainties for beta spectroscopy over the full (MeV) energy range. This work is an important benchmark for the practical application of the CRES technique to a variety of nuclei, in particular, opening its reach to searches for evidence of new physics beyond the TeV scale via precision beta-decay measurements.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2022

Magnetic Field Measurement and Analysis for the Muon g-2 Experiment at Fermilab

The Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory has measured the anomalous precession frequency $a^{}_μ= (g^{}_μ-2)/2$ of the muon to a combined precision of 0.46 parts per million with data collected during its first physics run in 2018. This paper documents the measurement of the magnetic field in the muon storage ring. The magnetic field is monitored by nuclear magnetic resonance systems and calibrated in terms of the equivalent proton spin precession frequency in a spherical water sample at 34.7$^\circ$C. The measured field is weighted by the muon distribution resulting in $\tildeω'^{}_p$, the denominator in the ratio $ω^{}_a$/$\tildeω'^{}_p$ that together with known fundamental constants yields $a^{}_μ$. The reported uncertainty on $\tildeω'^{}_p$ for the Run-1 data set is 114 ppb consisting of uncertainty contributions from frequency extraction, calibration, mapping, tracking, and averaging of 56 ppb, and contributions from fast transient fields of 99 ppb.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2022

Search for the muon electric dipole moment using frozen-spin technique at PSI

The presence of a permanent electric dipole moment in an elementary particle implies Charge-Parity symmetry violation and thus could help explain the matter-antimatter asymmetry observed in our universe. Within the context of the Standard Model, the electric dipole moment of elementary particles is extremely small. However, many Standard Model extensions such as supersymmetry predict large electric dipole moments. Recently, the muon electric dipole moment has become a topic of particular interest due to the tensions in the magnetic anomaly of the muon and the electron, and hints of lepton-flavor universality violation in B-meson decays. In this article, we discuss a dedicated effort at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland to search for the muon electric dipole moment using a 3-T compact solenoid storage ring and the frozen-spin technique. This technique could reach a sensitivity of $6\times10^{-23}$ $e\cdot$cm after a year of data taking with the $p=125$ MeV/$c$ muon beam at the Paul Scherrer Institute. This allows us to probe various Standard Model extensions not reachable by traditional searches using muon $g-2$ storage rings.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2021

Beam dynamics corrections to the Run-1 measurement of the muon anomalous magnetic moment at Fermilab

This paper presents the beam dynamics systematic corrections and their uncertainties for the Run-1 data set of the Fermilab Muon g-2 Experiment. Two corrections to the measured muon precession frequency $ω_a^m$ are associated with well-known effects owing to the use of electrostatic quadrupole (ESQ) vertical focusing in the storage ring. An average vertically oriented motional magnetic field is felt by relativistic muons passing transversely through the radial electric field components created by the ESQ system. The correction depends on the stored momentum distribution and the tunes of the ring, which has relatively weak vertical focusing. Vertical betatron motions imply that the muons do not orbit the ring in a plane exactly orthogonal to the vertical magnetic field direction. A correction is necessary to account for an average pitch angle associated with their trajectories. A third small correction is necessary because muons that escape the ring during the storage time are slightly biased in initial spin phase compared to the parent distribution. Finally, because two high-voltage resistors in the ESQ network had longer than designed RC time constants, the vertical and horizontal centroids and envelopes of the stored muon beam drifted slightly, but coherently, during each storage ring fill. This led to the discovery of an important phase-acceptance relationship that requires a correction. The sum of the corrections to $ω_a^m$ is 0.50 $\pm$ 0.09 ppm; the uncertainty is small compared to the 0.43 ppm statistical precision of $ω_a^m$.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2021

Measurement of the anomalous precession frequency of the muon in the Fermilab Muon g-2 experiment

The Muon g-2 Experiment at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL) has measured the muon anomalous precession frequency $ω_a$ to an uncertainty of 434 parts per billion (ppb), statistical, and 56 ppb, systematic, with data collected in four storage ring configurations during its first physics run in 2018. When combined with a precision measurement of the magnetic field of the experiment's muon storage ring, the precession frequency measurement determines a muon magnetic anomaly of $a_μ({\rm FNAL}) = 116\,592\,040(54) \times 10^{-11}$ (0.46 ppm). This article describes the multiple techniques employed in the reconstruction, analysis and fitting of the data to measure the precession frequency. It also presents the averaging of the results from the eleven separate determinations of ω_a, and the systematic uncertainties on the result.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2021

Search for a muon EDM using the frozen-spin technique

This letter of intent proposes an experiment to search for an electric dipole moment of the muon based on the frozen-spin technique. We intend to exploit the high electric field, $E=1{\rm GV/m}$, experienced in the rest frame of the muon with a momentum of $p=125 {\rm MeV/}c$ when passing through a large magnetic field of $|\vec{B}|=3{\rm T}$. Current muon fluxes at the $μ$E1 beam line permit an improved search with a sensitivity of $σ(d_μ)\leq 6\times10^{-23}e{\rm cm}$, about three orders of magnitude more sensitivity than for the current upper limit of $|d_μ|\leq1.8\times10^{-19}e{\rm cm}$\,(C.L. 95\%). With the advent of the new high intensity muon beam, HIMB, and the cold muon source, muCool, at PSI the sensitivity of the search could be further improved by tailoring a re-acceleration scheme to match the experiments injection phase space. While a null result would set a significantly improved upper limit on an otherwise un-constrained Wilson coefficient, the discovery of a muon EDM would corroborate the existence of physics beyond the Standard Model.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2020

Demonstration of Muon-Beam Transverse Phase-Space Compression

We demonstrate efficient transverse compression of a 12.5 MeV/c muon beam stopped in a helium gas target featuring a vertical density gradient and crossed electric and magnetic fields. The muon stop distribution extending vertically over 14 mm was reduced to a 0.25 mm size (RMS) within 3.5 $μ$s. The simulation including cross sections for low-energy $μ^+$-$\text{He}$ elastic and charge exchange ($μ^+\leftrightarrow $ muonium) collisions describes the measurements well. By combining the transverse compression stage with a previously demonstrated longitudinal compression stage, we can improve the phase space density of a $μ^+ $ beam by a factor of $ 10^{10} $ with $ 10^{-3} $ efficiency.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2020

Performance of the Muon $g-2$ calorimeter and readout systems measured with test beam data

A single calorimeter station for the Muon $g-2$ experiment at Fermilab includes the following subsystems: a 54-element array of PbF$_{2}$ Cherenkov crystals read out by large-area SiPMs, bias and slow-control electronics, a suite of 800 MSPS waveform digitizers, a clock and control distribution network, a gain calibration and monitoring system, and a GPU-based frontend read out through a MIDAS data acquisition environment. The entire system performance was evaluated using 2.5 - 5 GeV electrons at the End Station Test Beam at SLAC. This paper includes a description of the individual subsystems and the results of measurements of the energy response and resolution, energy-scale stability, timing resolution, and spatial uniformity. All measured performances meet or exceed the $g-2$ experimental requirements. Based on the success of the tests, the complete production of the required 24 calorimeter stations has been made and installation into the main experiment is complete. Furthermore, the calorimeter response measurements determined here informed the design of the reconstruction algorithms that are now employed in the running $g-2$ experiment.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2019

The laser-based gain monitoring system of the calorimeters in the Muon $g-2$ experiment at Fermilab

The Muon $g-2$ experiment, E989, is currently taking data at Fermilab with the aim of reducing the experimental error on the muon anomaly by a factor of four and possibly clarifying the current discrepancy with the theoretical prediction. A central component of this four-fold improvement in precision is the laser calibration system of the calorimeters, which has to monitor the gain variations of the photo-sensors with a 0.04\% precision on the short-term ($\sim 1\,$ms). This is about one order of magnitude better than what has ever been achieved for the calibration of a particle physics calorimeter. The system is designed to monitor also long-term gain variations, mostly due to temperature effects, with a precision below the per mille level. This article reviews the design, the implementation and the performance of the Muon $g-2$ laser calibration system, showing how the experimental requirements have been met.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2019

muCool: A novel low-energy muon beam for future precision experiments

Experiments with muons ($μ^{+}$) and muonium atoms ($μ^{+}e^{-}$) offer several promising possibilities for testing fundamental symmetries. Examples of such experiments include search for muon electric dipole moment, measurement of muon $g-2$ and experiments with muonium from laser spectroscopy to gravity experiments. These experiments require high quality muon beams with small transverse size and high intensity at low energy. At the Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland, we are developing a novel device that reduces the phase space of a standard $μ^{+}$ beam by a factor of $10^{10}$ with $10^{-3}$ efficiency. The phase space compression is achieved by stopping a standard $μ^{+}$ beam in a cryogenic helium gas. The stopped $μ^{+}$ are manipulated into a small spot with complex electric and magnetic fields in combination with gas density gradients. From here, the muons are extracted into the vacuum and into a field-free region. Various aspects of this compression scheme have been demonstrated. In this article the current status will be reported.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2018

muCool: A next step towards efficient muon beam compression

A novel device to compress the phase space of a muon beam by a factor of $10^{10}$ with a $10^{-3}$ efficiency is under development. A surface muon beam is stopped in a helium gas target consisting of several compression stages, wherein strong electric and magnetic fields are applied. The spatial extent of the stopped muon swarm is decreased by means of these fields until muons with eV energy are extracted into vacuum through a small orifice. It was measured that a 20 cm long muon stop distribution can be compressed in longitudinal direction to sub-mm extent within 2 ${\rm μs}$. Additionally, a drift perpendicular to the magnetic field of the compressed low-energy muon swarm was successfully demonstrated, paving the way towards the extraction from the gas and re-acceleration of the muons.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2018

Expression of Interest for Evolution of the Mu2e Experiment

We propose an evolution of the Mu2e experiment, called Mu2e-II, that would leverage advances in detector technology and utilize the increased proton intensity provided by the Fermilab PIP-II upgrade to improve the sensitivity for neutrinoless muon-to-electron conversion by one order of magnitude beyond the Mu2e experiment, providing the deepest probe of charged lepton flavor violation in the foreseeable future. Mu2e-II will use as much of the Mu2e infrastructure as possible, providing, where required, improvements to the Mu2e apparatus to accommodate the increased beam intensity and cope with the accompanying increase in backgrounds.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2016

Design and performance of SiPM-based readout of PbF2 crystals for high-rate, precision timing applications

We have developed a custom amplifier board coupled to a large-format 16-channel Hamamatsu silicon photomultiplier device for use as the light sensor for the electromagnetic calorimeters in the Muon g-2 experiment at Fermilab. The calorimeter absorber is an array of lead-fluoride crystals, which produces short-duration Cherenkov light. The detector sits in the high magnetic field of the muon storage ring. The SiPMs selected, and their accompanying custom electronics, must preserve the short pulse shape, have high quantum efficiency, be non-magnetic, exhibit gain stability under varying rate conditions, and cover a fairly large fraction of the crystal exit surface area. We describe an optimized design that employs the new-generation of thru-silicon via devices. The performance is documented in a series of bench and beam tests.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2016

Spatial confinement of muonium atoms

We report the achievement of spatial confinement of muonium atoms (the bound state of a positive muon and an electron). Muonium emitted into vacuum from mesoporous silica reflects between two SiO$_2$ confining surfaces separated by 1 mm. From the data, one can extract that the reflection probability on the confining surfaces kept at 100 K is about 90% and the reflection process is well described by a cosine law. This technique enables new experiments with this exotic atomic system and is a very important step towards a measurement of the 1S-2S transition frequency using continuous wave laser spectroscopy.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2011

Muonium emission into vacuum from mesoporous thin films at cryogenic temperatures

We report on Muonium (Mu) emission into vacuum following μ+ implantation in mesoporous thin SiO2 films. We obtain a yield of Mu into vacuum of (38\pm4)% at 250 K temperature and (20\pm4)% at 100 K for 5 keV μ+ implantation energy. From the implantation energy dependence of the Mu vacuum yield we determine the Mu diffusion constants in these films: D250KMu = (1.6 \pm 0.1) \times 10-4 cm2/s and D100KMu = (4.2\pm0.5)\times10-5 cm2/s. Describing the diffusion process as quantum mechanical tunneling from pore-to-pore, we reproduce the measured temperature dependence T^3/2 of the diffusion constant. We extract a potential barrier of (-0.3 \pm 0.1) eV which is consistent with our computed Mu work-function in SiO2 of [-0.3,-0.9] eV. The high Mu vacuum yield even at low temperatures represents an important step towards next generation Mu spectroscopy experiments.

physics.atom-ph↗