Search for a new gauge boson in the A' Experiment (APEX)

S.Abrahamyan , Z.Ahmed , K.Allada , D.Anez , T.Averett , A.Barbieri , K.Bartlett , J.Beacham

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J.Bono J.R.Boyce P.Brindza A.Camsonne K.Cranmer M.M.Dalton C.W.deJager J.Donaghy R.Essig C.Field E.Folts A.Gasparian N.Goeckner-Wald J.Gomez M.Graham J.-O.Hansen D.W.Higinbotham T.Holmstrom J.Huang S.Iqbal J.Jaros E.Jensen A.Kelleher M.Khandaker J.J.LeRose R.Lindgren N.Liyanage E.Long J.Mammei P.Markowitz T.Maruyama V.Maxwell S.Mayilyan J.McDonald R.Michaels K.Moffeit V.Nelyubin A.Odian M.Oriunno R.Partridge M.Paolone E.Piasetzky I.Pomerantz Y.Qiang S.Riordan Y.Roblin B.Sawatzky P.Schuster J.Segal L.Selvy A.Shahinyan R.Subedi V.Sulkosky S.Stepanyan N.Toro D.Walz B.Wojtsekhowski J.Zhang

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classification ✦ hep-ex hep-phnucl-ex

keywords alphaapexfixed-targetforcesrangesearchsub-gevboson

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We present a search at Jefferson Laboratory for new forces mediated by sub-GeV vector bosons with weak coupling $\alpha'$ to electrons. Such a particle $A'$ can be produced in electron-nucleus fixed-target scattering and then decay to an $e^+e^-$ pair, producing a narrow resonance in the QED trident spectrum. Using APEX test run data, we searched in the mass range 175--250 MeV, found no evidence for an $A'\to e^+e^-$ reaction, and set an upper limit of $\alpha'/\alpha \simeq 10^{-6}$. Our findings demonstrate that fixed-target searches can explore a new, wide, and important range of masses and couplings for sub-GeV forces.

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