Speaker
Description
Antiproton–nucleus annihilation at rest is a complex process that is not yet fully described by existing models, particularly due to the scarcity of experimental data on production of heavy nuclear fragments, which has led to a limited understanding of final state interactions (FSI). New measurements are therefore essential to validate models of the annihilation dynamics and to clarify how the primary mesons interact with the nuclear medium.
In this work, antiproton annihilations at rest in thin solid targets are studied at the AEgIS facility at CERN. The multiplicity, energy, and angular distributions of the emitted particles are measured using a system of Timepix4 detectors, providing access to the characteristics of the annihilation products and their evolution with the nuclear mass. These observables enable a systematic investigation of FSI effects and their impact on particle production and yields.
A reconstruction algorithm has been developed to determine the three-dimensional annihilation vertex from particle tracks in single-plane detectors. In contrast to conventional multi-layer tracking approaches in high-energy physics, this method achieves vertex reconstruction using a single detection layer, allowing a clean selection of annihilation events in the target. Preliminary results will be presented and discussed.