Development of the kaon tagging system for the NA62 experiment at CERN

TL;DR

The paper describes the development and testing of a Cherenkov detector system for the NA62 experiment at CERN, achieving high time resolution and efficiency for kaon identification in a high-rate beam.

Contribution

It presents the design, construction, and successful testing of a prototype kaon tagging detector with the required performance specifications.

Findings

Achieved 100 ps time resolution in prototype tests

Demonstrated >95% detection efficiency

Confirmed low contamination levels in tests

Abstract

The NA62 experiment at CERN aims to make a precision measurement of the ultra-rare decay $K^{+} \rightarrow \pi^{+}\nu\overline{\nu}$, and relies on a differential Cherenkov detector (KTAG) to identify charged kaons at an average rate of 50 MHz in a 750 MHz unseparated hadron beam. The experimental sensitivity of NA62 to K-decay branching ratios (BR) of $10^{-11}$ requires a time resolution for the KTAG of better than 100 ps, an efficiency better than 95% and a contamination of the kaon sample that is smaller than $10^{-4}$. A prototype version of the detector was tested in 2012, during the first NA62 technical run, in which the required resolution of 100 ps was achieved and the necessary functionality of the light collection system and electronics was demonstrated.