Near-Threshold Production of , , and at a Fixed-Target Experiment at the Future Ultrahigh-Energy Proton Colliders
R. Mikkelsen (IPNO, Université Paris-Sud, CNRS/IN2P3, 91406 Orsay, France, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark); J.P. Lansberg (IPNO, Université Paris-Sud, CNRS/IN2P3, 91406 Orsay, France); U.I. Uggerhøj (Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark)
We outline the opportunities to study the production of the Standard Model bosons, , , and , at “low” energies at fixed-target experiments based on possible future ultrahigh-energy proton colliders, that is, the High-Energy LHC, the Super proton-proton Collider, and the Future Circular Collider hadron-hadron. These can be indeed made in conjunction with the proposed future colliders designed to reach up to TeV by using bent crystals to extract part of the halo of the beam which would then impinge on a fixed target. Without disturbing the collider operation, this technique allows for the extraction of a substantial amount of particles in addition to serving for a beam-cleaning purpose. With this method, high-luminosity fixed-target studies at centre-of-mass energies above the , , and masses, –300 GeV, are possible. We also discuss the possibility offered by an internal gas target, which can also be used as luminosity monitor by studying the beam transverse shape.