Speaker
Description
The Mu2e experiment will search for the CLFV process of neutrinoless, coherent conversion of muon to electron in the field of an Al nucleus. The experimental signature is a monochromatic conversion electron (CE) with energy $E_{CE} = 104.97$ MeV. CE-like $e^-$s could also come from processes like Decay in Orbit of muons stopped in the Stopping Target (ST), cosmic muons interacting or decaying within the detector or antiprotons ($\overline{p}$) produced by the proton beam at the Production Target and annihilating in the ST. The background expected from $\overline{p}$s is very low but highly uncertain. It cannot be efficiently suppressed by the time window cut used to reduce the prompt background because the $\overline{p}$s are significantly slower than the other beam particles. We are developing a data-driven approach to constrain the $\overline{p}$ background. We plan to exploit another final state of $p\overline{p}$ annihilation in the ST, with a much larger Branching Ratio to constrain the background by comparison. $p\overline{p}$ annihilation can give multi-track final state with momentum of $\sim$ 100 MeV/c for each track at a much higher rate than signal like $e^-$. The idea is to identify and reconstruct these multi-track events and estimate the $\overline{p}$ background by comparison. The Mu2e detector and the default event reconstruction procedure are designed for efficient single track event reconstruction. The topology of a multi track event is very different from a CE event. We are creating new, holistic algorithms to reconstruct single as well as multi-track events. The poster will present the status and discuss the prospects of this novel proto analysis of the antiproton background in Mu2e.
