Working Paper: Two-Peak Structure in KSKL Photoproduction

Status: Working paper

Paper overview

I analyzed a TB-scale physics dataset to understand an unusual pattern: two clear bumps in the data where only one might be expected. To do this, I reconstructed particles from detector signals, compared multiple statistical models, and checked that the result stayed consistent under many validation tests. The same pattern appears reliably around two mass regions (about 1.5 and 1.75 GeV). However, the known particles that could produce these bumps do not align with these structures. This is still a working paper, and the exact physical interpretation is being refined.

Highlights

  • Uses the full GlueX-I coherent-peak dataset for KSKL photoproduction in a broad mass window.
  • Finds a robust two-peak structure, with features around ~1.5 GeV and ~1.75 GeV.
  • Compares no-interference and interference fit models, both of which provide a good description of the spectrum.
  • Includes systematic studies over event selections, model assumptions, binning, and acceptance-correction choices.
  • Current interpretation is intentionally conservative while additional model-development work continues.

Technologies Used

  • High-energy data analysis on GlueX-I data with event reconstruction and selection workflows.
  • Signal extraction using sideband subtraction, accidental subtraction, and missing-mass techniques.
  • Resonance-spectrum modeling with relativistic Breit-Wigner-based parameterizations.
  • Acceptance correction and Monte Carlo validation against reconstructed observables.
  • Systematic-uncertainty estimation across fit settings and event-selection variations.