Study of proton-nucleus interactions with the DsTau/NA65 experiment at the CERN-SPS
A. Ariga*  on behalf of the DsTau Collaboration
*: corresponding author
Full text: pdf
Pre-published on: December 17, 2024
Published on: April 29, 2025
Abstract
The NA65/DsTau experiment at CERN aims to study tau neutrino production and charm hadron physics in proton-nucleus interactions at 400 GeV. Tau neutrinos are among the least explored particles in the Standard Model, and precise measurements of their cross sections are critical for testing lepton universality, particularly in light of recent flavor anomalies. By using emulsion-based detectors, DsTau identifies sequential decays of $D_s \rightarrow \tau \rightarrow X$ to reduce the uncertainty in tau neutrino flux, which has hindered previous measurements. From 2021 to 2023, the experiment completed its data-taking phase, during which approximately $4 \times 10^9$ protons were delivered to the target, resulting in $2 \times 10^8$ interactions. The current analysis is focused on proton-tungsten interaction characterization, which will provide essential input for tuning hadron production models used in neutrino and cosmic ray experiments. Preliminary results demonstrate the ability of the DsTau detector to detect $D_s \rightarrow \tau \rightarrow X$ decays, and further analysis is ongoing to improve understanding of charm production and intrinsic charm in forward physics. The outcomes of DsTau will directly benefit future experiments, such as SHiP and FASER, contributing to a deeper understanding of tau neutrino physics.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22323/1.476.0124
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