Number of Families

Measurement of Z-Boson Resonance

Parameters in e+e- Annihilation
G. S. Abrams et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 63
(1989)
Situation Before this
Experiment
The known fermions are 3 lepton doublets and 5
quarks (mtop is assumed to be ~100MeV/c2).
In 1973, the existence of neutrino interactions
without a charged lepton in the final state (neutral-
current events) were demonstrated in a bubble
experiment at CERN.
In 1983, the Z was discovered (at 953GeV/c2) at
the CERN proton-antiproton collider.
Previous measurements of N by detection of single
photons in e+e- annihilation have given N >5.2.
Basic Idea

The Z0, once formed, can decay to

hadrons via quark-antiquark pairs, into
charged leptons, or into
neutrino-antinutrino pairs.
The total width is the sum of the
individual partial widths for each decay
mode and it depends on how many
flavors of neutrino there are.
Basic Idea
This experiment will produce a graph of some kind of cross-
section Z for e+e- annihilation against cms energy E. Then N
could be deduced using the relativistic Breit-Wigner formula:
(s)= max M2 2 / [ (s-M2)2 + M2 2 ], where s=E2 and M is the central
resonance mass. If a state is formed through channel i and decays through channel j ,
the cross-section is given by multiplying this result by a factor i j / 2 .
= number of events / luminosity
Number of events
The decay into neutrino pairs is invisible.
Among the visible decays, the decay to hadrons has the largest
branching factor (BF~70%).
The decay into an e+e- pair is contaminated by the photon-
exchanging Bhabha scattering.
Thus, only the hadronic and leptonic ( and pairs only) decays
will be counted.
Basic Idea

Luminosity
The amplitude for the elastic scattering of
e+e- depends on . For small , the
photon-exchanging process dominates,
and the amplitude (and thus ) is well
known.
Thus, small-angle Bhabha events are
used to measure the integrated
luminosity.
Measurements and Data
Z decays are identified using the Mark II drift chamber and
calorimeters.
Charged particles are detected and momentum analyzed in a
72-layer cylindrical drift chamber in a 4.75kG axial magnetic
field.
Photons are detected in electromagnetic calorimeters.
There are two detectors for the small-angle Bhabha events:
The small-angle monitors (SAMs) cover the angular region of
50<<160 mrad.
The mini-small-angle monitors (MiniSAMs) detect Bhabha events
in the region 15.2<<25.0 mrad at one end of the detector and
16.2<<24.5 mrad at the other.
Measurements and Data
The cms energy E is determined on every pulse with an
uncertainty of 35 MeV, using an energy spectrometer in the
extraction line of each beam.
For decays to be regarded hadronic there have to be at least
three charged tracks and at least 0.05E of energy visible in
each of the forward and backward hemispheres.
Bhabha events in the SAM calorimeters are selected by
requiring 40% of the beam energy in each SAM.
Bhabha events in the MiniSAM are selected by requiring that a
pair of adjacent quadrants on each sides of the interactioin
point contain at least 25 GeV more deposited energy than the
other pair of quadrants on that side.
The effiecency for each energy-scan points derived by combining
random beam crossings at that energy with Monte Carlo Bhabha
events.
Measurements and Data
The table below gives, for each scan point, the mean energy of the Bhabha
events, the number of SAM and MiniSAM Bhabha events (and the efficiency),
the integrated luminosity, the number of hadronic and leptonic Z decays
detected that satisfy the requirements of the experiment, and the visible
cross section. The total luminosity has an overall 2.8% systematic error.
Analysis and Results

The Breit-Wigner
formula needs to be
modified to include
the effects of
corrections due to
initial state
radiation:
Analysis and Results
Three fits, which differ in their reliance on the
Standard Model
The first leaves only mz as a free parameter.
The second leaves both mz and N as free parameters but
fixes and all other partial widths to their expected values.
Here N is derived largely from the height of the resonance.
The third fit does not assume any SM partial widths. The
formula

is used to fit for mz , and 0.

Analysis and Results
Analysis and Results
The uncertainty in the mass includes the
contributioin of 35 eV due to the energy
measurement.
The systematic error in mz due to
uncertainty in the initial-state radiation
correction is estimated to be less than 10
MeV/c2.
The luminosity uncertainty contributes 0.45
to the error in N .
The upper limit of N is 3.9 with a 95%
confidence limit.
N and Cosmology
Nucleosynthesis and the Big Bang
After t.1s, the end products of the Big Bang, apart from
the predominant leptons and photons, were neutrons and
protons.
If it werent for nucleosynthesis, the neutrons would die
away.
They would disappear by -decay and the matter of the early
universe would consist exclusively of protons and electrons.
However, nucleosynthesis takes place, via the formation of
deuterons, which get frozen out when kT.0.05MeV.
As soon as this happens, competing reactions leading to
helium production take over.
 N and the He mass fraction
For kT.0.05MeV, corresponding to an expansion time of
t.400s, the n to p ratio is r=0.14. This is fixedonce
neutrons are bound inside deuterons or heavier nuclei
they no longer decay.
The He mass fraction is given by 2r/(1+r)=0.25 and it
agrees with the observed value.
The important point is that the expansion timescale t is
proportional to N -1/2 where N is given by the number of
fundamental fermion and boson states.
Thus increasing N would mean a shorter time for the
temperature to drop from T1 to T2, say, and less time for
neutrons to decay before being captured in deuterons. So
the He mass fraction will increase with N.
Significance and prospects
for future experimental
work
This experiment has helped establish the
validity of the Standard Model.
Data on the Z decay asymmetries could be
obtained and used to test the predictions of
the SM even further.
At sufficiently high collision energies, W+W-
and Z0Z0 pairs could also be produced at
e+e- colliders, and the cross-sections could
be used to test the couplings of these
bosons as they are described by the SM.
Bibliography

Perkins, D. H., Introduction to High

Energy Physics (Cambridge,
Cambridge University Press 2000).