Identification of low-energy kaons in the ProtoDUNE-SP detector
Physical Review D, cilt.113, sa.5, ss.1-21, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 113 Sayı: 5
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Doi Numarası: 10.1103/q21l-pl7s
- Dergi Adı: Physical Review D
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Chemical Abstracts Core, INSPEC, MathSciNet, zbMATH
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1-21
- Erciyes Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a next-generation neutrino experiment with a rich physics program that includes searches for the hypothetical phenomenon of proton decay. Utilizing liquid-argon time-projection chamber technology, DUNE is expected to achieve world-leading sensitivity in the proton decay channels that involve charged kaons in their final states. The first DUNE demonstrator, ProtoDUNE Single-Phase, was a 0.77 kt detector that operated from 2018 to 2020 at the CERN Neutrino Platform, exposed to a mixed hadron and electron test-beam with momenta ranging from 0.3 to 7 GeV/c. We present a selection of low-energy kaons among the secondary particles produced in hadronic reactions, using data from the 6 and 7 GeV/c beam runs. The selection efficiency is 1% and the sample purity 92%. The initial energies of the selected kaon candidates encompass the expected energy range of kaons originating from proton decay events in DUNE (below ∼200 MeV). In addition, we demonstrate the capability of this detector technology to discriminate between kaons and other particles such as protons and muons, and provide a comprehensive description of their energy loss in liquid argon, which shows good agreement with the simulation. These results pave the way for future proton decay searches at DUNE.