Speaker
Prof.
Corrado Gatto
(INFN and NIU)
Description
The $\eta$ meson is almost unique in the particle universe since it is
a Goldstone boson and the dynamics of its decay are strongly constrained.
Because the eta has no charge, decays that violate conservation laws can occur
without interfering with a corresponding current. The integrated eta meson
samples collected in earlier experiments have been about ~$10^9$ events, dominated by the WASA at Cosy experiment,
limiting considerably the search for such rare decays. A new experiment,
REDTOP, is being proposed at the proton booster of Fermilab with the intent
of collecting more than $10^{13}$ triggers/year for studies of rare $\eta$ decays.
Such statistics are sufficient for investigating several symmetry violations,
and for searches for new particles beyond the Standard Model. The physics
program, the accelerator systems and the detector for REDTOP will be
discussed during the presentation.
Primary author
Prof.
Corrado Gatto
(INFN and NIU)
Co-author
Michael Syphers
(Northern Illinois University / Fermilab)