Search for a new gauge boson in electron-nucleus fixed-target scattering by the APEX experiment

S. Abrahamyan, Z. Ahmed, K. Allada, D. Anez, T. Averett, A. Barbieri, K. Bartlett, J. Beacham, J. Bono, J. R. Boyce, P. Brindza, A. Camsonne, K. Cranmer, M. M. Dalton, C. W. De Jager, J. Donaghy, R. Essig, C. Field, E. Folts, A. GasparianN. Goeckner-Wald, J. Gomez, M. Graham, J. O. Hansen, D. W. Higinbotham, T. Holmstrom, J. Huang, S. Iqbal, J. Jaros, E. Jensen, A. Kelleher, M. Khandaker, J. J. Lerose, R. Lindgren, N. Liyanage, E. Long, J. Mammei, P. Markowitz, T. Maruyama, V. Maxwell, S. Mayilyan, J. McDonald, R. Michaels, K. Moffeit, V. Nelyubin, A. Odian, M. Oriunno, R. Partridge, M. Paolone, E. Piasetzky, I. Pomerantz, Y. Qiang, S. Riordan, Y. Roblin, B. Sawatzky, P. Schuster, J. Segal, L. Selvy, A. Shahinyan, R. Subedi, V. Sulkosky, S. Stepanyan, N. Toro, D. Walz, B. Wojtsekhowski, J. Zhang

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    We present a search at the Jefferson Laboratory for new forces mediated by sub-GeV vector bosons with weak coupling α to electrons. Such a particle A can be produced in electron-nucleus fixed-target scattering and then decay to an e+e- pair, producing a narrow resonance in the QED trident spectrum. Using APEX test run data, we searched in the mass range 175-250 MeV, found no evidence for an A →e+e- reaction, and set an upper limit of α/αA10-6. Our findings demonstrate that fixed-target searches can explore a new, wide, and important range of masses and couplings for sub-GeV forces.

    Original languageEnglish (US)
    Article number191804
    JournalPhysical Review Letters
    Volume107
    Issue number19
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Nov 4 2011

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • General Physics and Astronomy

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