Mu2e experiment

The Mu2e experiment searches for Charged Lepton Flavour Violation in muons, by looking for a conversion of a muon (captured on a nucleus) into an electron. This conversion is forbidden in the Standard Model of particle physics, so any signal would be a clear sign of New Physics.

The Mu2e experiment is situated at Fermi National Lab (FNAL), in Illinois. It will extend the search for a neutrinoless conversion of a muon into an electron in the field of a nuclues by four orders of magnitude, making it the world's most sensitive Charged Lepton Flavour Violation experiment. 

To search for CLFV, muons are first captured on nucleus, in specific atomic orbits.  The usual decay of such a muon is to two neutrinos and an electron, and therefore the electron has a continuous energy spectrum, since the total energy can be shared by the outgoing particles. The maximum energy of the electron is just below the muon mass, since there is some recoil of the nucleus. In a conversion, there is only the electron and the recoiling nucleus in the final state, so the electron has an energy very near the muon mass, at the end-point of the usual decay spectrum. By precisely measuring the momentum of the out-going electrons, using straw tracking detectors, the conversions can be distinguished from the decays. The number of captured muons is needed to quantify the sensitivity of the experiment. This is done by looking for the characteristic photon energies associated with muon capture, using a High Purity Germanium Detector. This detector was provided by Liverpool University. 

Personnel:

Group Leader

  • Dr. Joe Price

Academic, Research and Technical Staff

  • Prof. Themis Bowcock
  • Prof. Laura Harkness
  • Dr Dan Judson

PhD Students 

  • Sean Isaac

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