Study of neutral pion decays at the NA62 experiment at CERN

ended

The project presented in this proposal will study decays of the neutral pion at the NA62 experiment at CERN. The main objectives of the project are the measurements of neutral pion transition form factor and the branching fraction of the very rare decay of neutral pion into an electron-positron pair by an analysis of the data sample collected by the NA62 experiment in years 2016-2018. The former observable is an important input to theoretical computations of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, while the latter represents a direct probe of the Standard Model of particle physics. The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) is a partner organization of this project, with the role of hosting the researcher during two one-month long secondments. This proposal includes both the transfer of knowledge to the host institution and the training of the candidate in new advanced techniques, such as artificial neural network application in pattern recognition. Various outreach activities are planned in the proposal, targetting general public and students from secondary schools.