Wednesday 27 January 2016 

Speaker: Dr Chris Parkinson (University of Birmingham)


Title: "Status and prospects of the NA62 experiment in 2016" 

Abstract: The K+→π+νν decay is highly suppressed in the Standard Model, making the branching fraction extremely sensitive to contributions from new particles. Moreover, the K+→π+νν branching fraction can be precisely calculated in theoretical models. The combination of these features makes the K+→π+νν decay a powerful probe of the Standard Model flavour sector. The NA62 experiment at the CERN SPS began taking data in autumn 2014. The goal of NA62 is to isolate 100 K+→π+νν events from about 1013 K+ decays before the second long-shutdown of CERNs proton physics programme. Background rejection on such as scale requires a cutting-edge experiment such as NA62. The collected K+→π+νν events will provide the basis for the world’s most precise measurement of the K+→π+νν branching fraction, which will impose severe constraints on physics beyond the Standard Model. The status and prospects of the NA62 experiment will be presented in light of the data collected during 2014 and 2015. The beam line and detector systems will be outlined with regard to the NA62 physics programme. The similarities and differences of contemporary experiments, such as those at the LHC, will be identified. The expected physics performance, and prospects for discovery of new physics phenomena, will be examined.