Past exam of the particle physics course of the University of Oxford / 2021 / 6

For a selected lepton sample, subtract backgrounds and correct for detector acceptance, reconstruction and particle-identification efficiency, trigger efficiency and live time. Schematically,The first expression applies when the published signal definition is a specified fiducial region; the second additionally extrapolates by acceptance $A$. Resolution-induced migration across selections must be unfolded or included in a detector-response fit. Tau lepton reconstruction also needs the relevant branching fractions if only selected decay modes are counted. Initial- and final-state QED radiation and beam-energy spread change the measured line shape; extracting a Born-level or pole cross section requires the corresponding radiative corrections. In the electron channel, Bhabha scattering also has a non-annihilation $t$-channel contribution that must be treated.

For quarks, hadronization means the detector observes hadrons and jets, rather than free quarks. Correct the selection and any flavor tagging using fragmentation and decay modeling, including losses to heavy-hadron decays with neutrinos. In comparison with a pointlike lepton cross section, also include the three color charges per quark flavor and QCD corrections, schematically $N_c[1+{\alpha }_s/\pi +\cdots ]$ with $N_c=3$ at high energy. The color multiplicity is a physical production factor, not an extra factor by which to divide an already efficiency-corrected inclusive hadronic event count.

Count a reference process whose fiducial cross section is accurately calculable. At an electron-positron collider, small-angle Bhabha scattering, dominated by $t$-channel photon exchange, is abundant and provides a standard choice. Require coincident high-energy electron and Positron deposits on opposite sides of the interaction point, with consistent back-to-back directions, and impose precisely specified angular and energy cuts. ThenThe theoretical prediction must include radiation and other relevant electroweak effects under the same event definition. Finite angular resolution, alignment, beam position, live time, trigger efficiency and background contamination enter the uncertainty budget. For small scattering angle $\theta$, $t\simeq -s{\theta }^2/4$ and the leading differential scattering cross-section behaves approximately as $d\sigma /d\theta \propto {\theta }^{-3}$; the inner fiducial angle must therefore be particularly accurately known. Binning these counts in time can also measure the instantaneous collider luminosity.

A compact silicon-tungsten sampling electromagnetic calorimeter can serve as the small-angle luminosity monitor. Alternate dense tungsten absorber plates with finely segmented silicon sensor planes. Incident electrons and Positrons create electromagnetic showers in the absorber; their charged daughters create electron-hole pairs by ionization in depleted silicon. An electric field collects the charge, and the summed calibrated signal estimates shower energy.

Radial and azimuthal sensor segmentation gives precise shower positions and hence polar angles using the measured distance to the interaction point. Multiple layers measure shower development and improve the centroid estimate. Opposite-side coincidence, beam-time synchronization and an energy requirement reject beam backgrounds. Mechanical survey, alignment and edge-response calibration define the small-angle fiducial boundary: high position precision matters especially because the Bhabha scattering rate changes steeply with angle. The monitor's overall energy resolution need not match the central precision crystal detector; it must accurately reconstruct its own fiducial selection and efficiency.

Fit radiatively corrected visible cross sections across the Z boson resonance. The line shape determines $M_Z$, the total decay width ${\Gamma }_Z$, and pole normalizationsThe first extraction uses the fitted total and visible partial decay widths. Assuming lepton universality, ${\Gamma }_e={\Gamma }_{\mu }={\Gamma }_{\tau }={\Gamma }_{\ell }$, an absolute leptonic pole cross section gives ${\Gamma }_{\ell }={\Gamma }_Z\sqrt{M_Z^2{\sigma }_{\ell }^0/(12\pi )}$. The hadronic-to-leptonic ratio gives $R_{\ell }={\Gamma }_{\mathrm{had}}/{\Gamma }_{\ell }$. Subtracting every visible channel then yieldsWithout lepton universality, separately fitted visible leptonic widths replace $3{\Gamma }_{\ell }$, with sufficient independent information to disentangle their products with ${\Gamma }_e$.

A second, useful peak-normalization extraction first determines the invisible-to-leptonic ratio. Becauseone obtainsThis ratio extraction does not require the measured line width. Multiplication by an independently predicted leptonic partial decay width, or by ${\Gamma }_Z/(R_{\mathrm{inv}}+R_{\ell }+3)$ from the scan, converts it to ${\Gamma }_{\mathrm{inv}}$. Alternatively dividing $R_{\mathrm{inv}}$ by the predicted single-species ratio ${\Gamma }_{\nu }/{\Gamma }_{\ell }$ gives the number of light active neutrinos. These are two standard uses of line-shape information, with different choices of theoretical input; if both use the same fitted ${\Gamma }_{\ell }$, they are algebraically equivalent and statistically correlated, not independent determinations.

Statistical uncertainties in the reference-process counts give fluctuations in the collider luminosity at individual scan points, propagating into normalization and fitted line width. They decrease with additional reference events. A common multiplicative luminosity-scale systematic largely cancels in $R_{\ell }$ and the normalized line shape, but shifts every absolute peak cross section. It therefore does not cancel from either invisible-width extraction. For a fractional upward luminosity shift $\epsilon$, ${\sigma }_{\mathrm{had}}^0$ shifts by $-\epsilon$, and at fixed $R_{\ell },M_Z,{\Gamma }_Z$,Thus overestimating luminosity increases the inferred invisible contribution. Energy-dependent systematic errors can also distort the line shape and its total decay width. The covariance matrix must retain correlations between scan points and experiments, including common theoretical uncertainty in the Bhabha scattering calculation.

Tag an energetic initial-state radiation photon in $e^{+}{e}^{-}\to \gamma Z^{(\ast )}\to \gamma +\text{invisible}$, observing a single-photon signature with missing energy and missing momentum. At known squared center-of-mass energy $s$, the leading single-photon recoil invariant mass isAbove the Z boson mass, radiative-return events cluster at $m_{\mathrm{recoil}}\simeq M_Z$. At or near the pole the full off-shell recoil spectrum is fitted instead. Folding the Breit-Wigner resonance cross section with the calculable QED radiation kernel gives a predicted tagged rate proportional to ${\Gamma }_e{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{inv}}$ for fixed total decay width. A fit with the known luminosity and visible line-shape parameters therefore determines ${\Gamma }_{\mathrm{inv}}$ directly from invisible events, rather than subtracting visible widths. Comparing identically selected radiative-return events with visible Z boson decays can instead constrain ${\Gamma }_{\mathrm{inv}}/{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{vis}}$ while cancelling much of the luminosity normalization.

The detector needs efficient single-photon triggering, good photon energy and angular resolution, reliable timing, and nearly hermetic charged-particle and particle calorimeter coverage. Forward vetoes reject radiative Bhabha scattering with escaped electrons; additional-photon vetoes reject $\gamma \gamma$ events with a lost photon. Require sufficient transverse photon momentum that a recoiling visible system could not all disappear down a beam hole. Timing rejects cosmic rays and beam backgrounds. Detector inefficiencies and beam holes must be measured, since visible final states with lost particles imitate the signal. The irreducible $e^{+}{e}^{-}\to {\nu }_e{\bar{\nu }}_e\gamma$ contribution from $t$-channel W boson exchange and its interference must be included when isolating the Z boson invisible decay width.