Investigation of particle identification methods for the analysis of the photoproduction of neutral kaons on a liquid deuterium target

Authors

Brian Beckford, Florida International University

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Science (MS)

Major/Program

Physics

First Advisor's Name

Joerg Reinhold

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Chair

Second Advisor's Name

Brian Raue

Third Advisor's Name

Pete E. C. Markowitz

Date of Defense

7-9-2008

Abstract

The Photoproduction of neutral kaons off a deuteron target has been investigated at the Tohoku University Laboratory of Nuclear Science. The PID methods investigated incorporated a combination of momentum, velocity (β=v/c), and energy deposition per unit length (dE/dx) measurements. The analysis demonstrates that energy deposition and time of flight are exceedingly useful. A higher signal to background ratio was achieved for hard cuts in combination. A probabilistic likelihood estimation approach (LE) as a method for PID was also explored. The probability of a particle being correctly identified by this LE method and the preliminary results denote the need for highly precise limitations on the distributions from which the parameters would be extracted. It was confirmed that these PID are applicable approaches to properly identify pions for the analysis of this experiment. However, the background evident in the mass spectra points to the need for a higher level of proton identification.

Identifier

FI14050468

Recommended Citation

Beckford, Brian, "Investigation of particle identification methods for the analysis of the photoproduction of neutral kaons on a liquid deuterium target" (2008). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1466.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1466