Characteristics of trimuon events observed in high-energy neutrino interactions

The properties of 76 neutrino-initiated μ^?μ^?μ⁺ events observed in the CDHS detector in the 350 GeV and 400 GeV wide-band beams at CERN are discussed. For neutrino energies 30 GeV and muon momenta ?4.5 GeV, the average trimuon rate is (3.0 ± 0.4) × 10^?5 of the single-muon event rate. The experimental distributions are compared with predictions from various models. The data cannot be understood in terms of either heavy-lepton or heavy-quark cascades; no evidence is found for such processes and upper limits for the two possibilities are established. The data can be understood in terms of the normal charged-current process with the additional production of a muon pair by both hadronic and electromagnetic processes.     

Direct muon production in proton-nuclear collisions at 70, 50 and 35 GeV

Direct muon yields (μ^±) in the transverse momentum range of 1.9–3.1 GeV/c on Cu and Be nuclei at the proton energies 70, 50 and 35 GeV have been measured. The yield of direct μ/π is shown to considerably decrease when proton energy varies from 70 to 35 GeV. The charge ratio of direct muon μ⁺/μ^? as well as the dependence of the yield of direct muons on the atomic number of the target have been measured.     

Muo-production of neutrino pairs and the number of generations

The cross section for production of neutrino pairs by high energy muons in the nuclear Coulomb field is calculated analytically. For right (left)-handedμ ^?(μ ⁺) helicity, the process is only mediated by neutral currents, which opens the possibility to look for the number of generations. Assuming three generations, the calculated cross section turns out to be 1.1×10^?40 cm² for⁵⁶Fe and 6.6×10^?40cm² for²⁰⁸Pb at an incident muon energy of 300 GeV. Some comments about the equivalent photon approximation are made.     

Study of the charge-exchange reactions\pi ^ - p \to (\pi ^0 ,\eta ,\eta \prime )n at 63 GeV

Muon electron pairs were detected in an Al multiplate spark chamber, exposed to a neutrino beam from the CERN PS. The leptons were not accompanied by other particles, except occasionally by protons. The background came mainly from muon associated π⁰ production, with one decay gamma lost. It was determined empirically, together with the small contribution from υ _e reactions. For electron energies above 2 GeV the background is 5.7±1.5 events, whereas 18 (μe)-candidates have been observed. Hence the effect is established, with a rate of about 10^?4 as compared to the muonic reactions above 3 GeV. Charm creation as the origin of this (μe)-production process is excluded; heavy neutral lepton production does not fit the kinematics observed. Instead the events are compatible with the two-body decay of an object with variable invariant mass of order 1 GeV, possibly resulting from axion interactions.     

Observation of ω → π0μ+μ− decay

The results of studying the mass spectrum of μ⁺μ^?γγ systems produced in π^?p collisions at 25 and 33 GeV/c presented. The wide-aperture magnetic spectrometer with a hodoscope γ-detector was used to identify muon pairs and photons. There is a clear peak in the mass spectrum which corresponds to the decay ω → π⁰μ⁺μ^? previously not observed. The branching ratio for the decay is estimated to be 9 × 10^?5 with a systematic error of 50%.     

Direct observations of the decay of beauty particles into charm particles

The associated production of a pair of beauty particles B^? and $\text{B}{}^0$ by a 350 GeV π^? interaction has been observed in an emulsion target inserted in an array of silicon microstrip detectors. Both beauty particles decay into charm particles, both of which are also observed to decay in the emulsion. Two negative muons were identified and their momenta measured in a large muon spectrometer. One muon has a p_T of 1.9 GeV/c and is associated with a beauty particle decay. The other, with a p_T of 0.45 GeV/c is associated with a charm particle decay. The flight times of the two beauty particles are respectively (0.8 ± 0.1) × 10^?13 s and (5⁺²_?1) × 10^?13 s. Alternative interpretations of this event have negligible probability.     

Monochromatic neutrinos from the annihilation of fourth-generation massive stable neutrinos in the Sun and in the Earth

The accumulation of relic fourth-generation heavy neutrinos (of mass 50 GeV) in the Earth and the Sun, which is followed by their annihilation, is considered. The most conservative estimates of the fluxes of monochromatic electron, muon, and tau neutrinos and antineutrinos of energy 50 GeV from the annihilation of heavy neutrinos are 4.1×10^?6 cm^?2 s^?1 from Earth’s core and 1.1×10^?7 cm^?2 s^?1 from Sun’s core, whence it follows that an analysis of data from underground neutrino observatories may furnish additional information about the existence of fourth-generation neutrinos. It is shown that, because of kinetic equilibrium between the arrival of cosmic neutrinos and their annihilation, the existence of new U(1) gauge interaction of fourth-generation neutrinos has virtually no effect on the estimates of the annihilation fluxes of electron, muon, and tau neutrinos.     

Lower limit for heavy muon mass obtained from the data of the CERN neutrino experiment

A lower limit for the heavy muon (heavy lepton omega′^? which can have the same lepton number as omega^? and ν_omega) mass M_μ′ > 1.8 GeV at 90% confidence level is obtained with the help of the bubble chamber “Gargamelle” data in the CERN neutrino experiment. This limit should not be confused with the known limit for an M⁺ (heavy lepton M⁺ which can have the same lepton number as μ^? and ν_μ).     

Are there “prompt” like-sign dimuons?

From exposures of the CDHS detector at the CERN SPS we have obtained 367μ ⁺ μ ^? events in neutrino beams and 73μ ⁺ μ ⁺ events in an antineutrino beam. The magnitude of a prompt like-sign signal has been controversial in the past and moreover could not be explained by known production mechanisms. A critical discussion of the experimental situation is given. We have tried to reduce the systematic uncertainties of previous experiments and to get more information on the dependence of the signal with energy and the muon momentum cut-off. This experiment yields a signal of 2.8σ (2.4σ) of prompt like-sign dimuon events in the case of neutrinos (antineutrinos). The rate to charged current events is of the order of 10^?4 forp _μ<9GeV andE>100 GeV. The prompt signal has all the properties expected from the production and decay of charm-anticharm events. The magnitude, however, is substantially higher then the prediction of perturbative QCD but lower than some other experiments.     

Anomalous magnetic moment of the muon in the left-right model

The effect of Higgs bosons on the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon is considered within the model that is based on the SU(2)_L×SU(2)_R×U(1)_B–L gauge group and which involves a bidoublet and two triplets of Higgs fields (left-right model). For the Yukawa coupling constants and the masses of Higgs bosons, the regions are found where the model leads to agreement with experimental results obtained at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) for the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon. In order to explore corollaries from the constraints obtained for the parameters of the Higgs sector, the processes e⁺e^? → μ⁺μ^?, τ⁺τ^? and μ⁺μ^? → μ⁺μ^?, τ⁺τ^? are considered both within the left-right model and within the model involving two Higgs doublets (two-Higgs-doublet model). It is shown that, if the mass of the lightest neutral Higgs boson does indeed lie in the range 3.1–10 GeV, as is inferred from the condition requiring the consistency of the two-Higgs-doublet model with the data of the BNL experiment, this Higgs boson may be observed as a resonance peak at currently operating e⁺e^? colliders (VEPP-4M, CESR, KEKB, PEP-II, and SLC). In order to implement this program, however, it is necessary to reduce considerably the scatter of energy in the e⁺ and e^? beams used, since the decay width of the lightest neutral Higgs boson is extremely small at such mass values. It is demonstrated that, in the case of the left-right model, for which the mass of the lightest neutral Higgs boson is not less than 115 GeV, the resonance peak associated with it may be detected at a muon collider.     

Possible structures of the neutral current within a gauge theory framework

We examine a class of gauge theories based on U(1)×SU(2)×G allowing for an arbitrary number of gauge bosons, while retaining the lowq ² four fermion interaction of the standard model. Measurable consequences fore ⁺ e ^?→μ ⁺ μ ^? ande ⁺ e ^?→e ⁺ e ^? at presently available as well as LEP energies are presented. Implications of the recently determined QED cut-offΛ _? ? 100 GeV on gauge boson properties and the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon are pointed out.     

Total cross sections νμ and ḡnμcharged-current interactions between 20 and 200 GeV

Exposures of the Ne/H₂ filled Big European Bubble Chamber (BEBC) to a dichromatic neutrino (antineutrino) beam produced by 400 GeV protons of the CERN SPS yielded ～ 3100 events with a negative, and ～ 1100 with a positive, muon. The neutrino flux is determined from the muon flux in the shielding. Assuming a linear energy dependence of the cross section, the values $\text{σ}\text{E}$ between 20 and 200 GeV are found to be 0.657 ± 0.012 (stat.) ± 0.027 (syst.) and 0.309 ± 0.009 (stat.) ± 0.013 (syst.) cm² (GeV nucleon)^?1, for neutrinos and antineutrinos, respectively. The scaling variable $\text{q}{}^2\text{E}$ decreases significantly with increasing energy both for neutrinos and antineutrinos.     

Search for heavy quasistable leptons

Negative results of a search for heavy quasistable charged leptons at the IHEP accelerator are reported. For the selection of heavy leptons a system of scintillation and gas ?erenkov counters was used. The upper limit estimations of the differential cross sections for heavy lepton production in pN collisions at E_p = 70 GeV are, for example, d²σ/dpω (p = 30 GeV/c, θ = 2 mrad, 1 ? M_λ ? 4.8 GeV) = 4.10^?38 cm²/sr · GeV. The results of the present work, together with the data on muon pair production in nucleon-nucleon interactions, show that there are no heavy charged leptons with masses from 0.55 GeV (τ_λ > 7 · 10^?10 sec) up to 4.5 GeV (τ_λ > 3 · 10^?8 sec).     

Search for heavy neutral leptons in e+e− annihilations at 29 GeV

A search was made in 29 GeV e⁺e^? annihilations for heavy, neutral leptons decaying to e^±X^?(ν), where X is a muon or charged meson. Six events with isolated e^±X^? pairs were found for an intergrated luminosity of 106 pb^?1. The expected background is 5.5 ± 2.2 events. Limits on $\text{σ}\text{s}\text{?}\text{B}$ depend on mass and range from 8 to 20 × 10^?5 nb.     

A search for free quarks in deep inelastic muon scattering

A search was made at the CERN SPS for long-lived fractionally charged particles produced in deep inelastic muon interactions on a Be target using the existing muon beam line as a spectrometer. No such particles were found, leading to upper limits for the production cross section of the order of 10^?36 cm² for 200 GeV incident muon momentum and quark masses below 9 GeV for the $\text{2}\text{3}$ charge and 15 GeV for $\text{1}\text{3}$ charge.     

A light neutral intermediate vector boson without large e+e−→ μ+μ− asymmetries

An effective SU(2)×U(1)×U(1)' electroweak theory is shown to permit the occurence of a pair of neutral intermediate vector bosons with masses 40 GeV?m_light?70 GeV, m^W.S._Z⁰<m_heavy?100 GeV. Neutrino neutral current interactions are shown to be the same as in the standard electroweak model, and e⁺e^?→μ⁺μ^? forward-backward asymmetries are within experimental bounds for m_light?40 GeV.     

Investigation of like-sign dimuon production in neutrino and antineutrino reactions

290 events of the type νFe→μ^?μ^?X and 53 events from the reaction $\text{ν}\text{Fe→μ}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{μ}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{X with}\text{E}{}_{\mathrm{\nu }}\text{>30}\text{GeV}$ and muon momenta p_μ>6.5GeV/c have been observed in the CDHS detector. After subtracting the background from charged-current processes with one π or K meson of the hadronic shower decaying into $\text{μ}{}^{\mathrm{?}}\text{ν}\text{(or μ}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{μ)}$, we obtain for neutrinos a rate of prompt like- sign dimuon production of (3.4±1.8)×10^?5 relative to the rate of charged-current events with the same cuts, or (4.1 ± 2.2)% relative to the prompt μ^?μ⁺ rate, and for antineutrinos the corresponding relative rates (4.3±2.3)×10^?5 and (4.2 ± 2.3)%. A possible explanation for the events is charm pair production at a level of 10^?3 relative to all charged-current reactions.     

Anomalous muon production in e+e− annihilations as evidence for heavy leptons

We have measured inclusive muon production in e⁺e^? annihilation for CMS energies between 3.6 and 5.0 GeV. Above 4 GeV the cross section cannot be explained by conventional sources like higher order QED processes or inclusive production of the $\text{J}\text{?}$ (3.1). It is, however, compatible with the pair production of heavy particles of a mass of about 1.9 GeV/c². Spin assignment and decay parameters are investigated.     

A study of trimuon events in 280 GeV muon interactions

In 280 GeV μ⁺ iron interactions the inelastic production of muon pairs has been observed in excess of QED processes. For energies greater than 20 GeV deposited in the target calorimeter the interactions are found to be mainly hadronic. Cross sections are presented for this process in the mass range 1?2.5 GeV/c² and in the kinematic regions covered by the apparatus acceptance. The data are in good agreement with a photon-gluon fusion model for charmed particle production.     

Neutrino production of same-sign dimuons at the Fermilab Tevatron

The rate of neutrino- and antineutrino-induced prompt same-sign dimuon production in steel was measured using a sample of μ^?μ^? events and 25 μ⁺μ⁺ events withP _μ>9 GeV/c, produced in 1.5 millionv _μ and 0.3 million \(\overline {v_\mu }\) induced charged-current events with energies between 30 GeV and 600 GeV. The data were obtained with the Chicago-Columbia-Fermilab-Rochester (CCFR) neutrino detector in the Fermilab Tevatron Quadrupole Triplet Neutrino Beam during experiments E 744 and E 770. After background subtraction, the prompt rate of same-sign dimuon production is (0.53±0.24)×10^?4 perv _μ charged-current event and (0.52±0.33)×10^?4 per \(\overline {v_\mu }\) charged-current event. The kinematic distributions of the same-sign dimuon events after background subtraction are consistent with those of the non-prompt background due to meson decays in the hadron shower of a charged-current event. Calculations ofc \(\bar c\) gluon bremsstrahlung, based on improved measurements of the charm mass parameter and nucleon structure functions by the CCFR collaboration, yield a prompt rate of (0.09±0.39)×10^?4 perv _μ charged-current event. In this case,c \(\bar c\) gluon bremsstrahlung is probably not an observable source of prompt same-sign dimuons.