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Identification of low-energy kaons in the ProtoDUNE-SP detector
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Identification of low-energy kaons in the ProtoDUNE-SP detector

DUNE Collaboration, S. Abbaslu, F. Abd Alrahman, A. Abed Abud and Beryl R Bell
Physical review. D, v 113(5), pp 1-21
09 Mar 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/Q21L-PL7S
url
https://doi.org/10.1103/Q21L-PL7SView
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open CC BY V4.0

Abstract

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a next-generation neutrino experiment with a rich physics program that includes searches for the hypothetical phenomenon of proton decay. Utilizing liquid-argon time-projection chamber technology, DUNE is expected to achieve world-leading sensitivity in the proton decay channels that involve charged kaons in their final states. The first DUNE demonstrator, ProtoDUNE Single-Phase, was a 0.77 kt detector that operated from 2018 to 2020 at the CERN Neutrino Platform, exposed to a mixed hadron and electron test-beam with momenta ranging from 0.3 to 7  GeV/c. We present a selection of low-energy kaons among the secondary particles produced in hadronic reactions, using data from the 6 and 7  GeV/c beam runs. The selection efficiency is 1% and the sample purity 92%. The initial energies of the selected kaon candidates encompass the expected energy range of kaons originating from proton decay events in DUNE (below ∼200  MeV). In addition, we demonstrate the capability of this detector technology to discriminate between kaons and other particles such as protons and muons, and provide a comprehensive description of their energy loss in liquid argon, which shows good agreement with the simulation. These results pave the way for future proton decay searches at DUNE.

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