Low Mass Dimuon Production in p-A Collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 27.5$ GeV with NA60

TL;DR

This paper reports on the NA60 experiment's measurements of low-mass muon pairs in proton-nucleus collisions at 27.5 GeV, providing new insights into meson production, form factors, and nuclear dependence in cold nuclear matter.

Contribution

It presents high-precision measurements of meson electromagnetic form factors and nuclear dependence of meson production cross sections in p-A collisions.

Findings

Mass spectrum explained by neutral meson decays

New measurements of $ ho$ meson temperature parameter

Nuclear dependence of meson production characterized by $eta$ parameter

Abstract

The NA60 experiment has studied low-mass muon pair production in proton-nucleus collisions with a system of Be, Cu, In, W, Pb and U targets using a 400 GeV/$c$ proton beam at the CERN SPS. The mass spectrum is well described by the superposition of the two-body and Dalitz decays of the light neutral mesons $\eta$, $\rho$, $\omega$, $\eta'$ and $\phi$. A new high-precision measurement of the electromagnetic transition form factors of the $\eta$ and $\omega$ mesons is presented, complemented with a measurement of the temperature parameter of the $\rho$ meson in cold nuclear matter. The $\pt$ spectra for the $\omega$ and $\phi$ mesons are extracted in the full $\pt$ range accessible, up to $\pt = 2$ GeV/$c$. The nuclear dependence of the production cross sections for the $\eta$, $\omega$ and $\phi$ mesons has been investigated in terms of the power law $\sigma_\mathrm{pA} \propto \mathrm{A}^\alpha$, and the $\alpha$ parameter was studied as a function of $\pt$.