Detector for measuring the $\pi^+\to e^+\nu_e$ branching fraction

Abstract

The PIENU experiment at TRIUMF is aimed at a measurement of the branching ratio $R^{e/\mu}$ = ${\Gamma\big((\pi^{+} \rightarrow e^{+} \nu_{e}) + (\pi^{+} \rightarrow e^{+} \nu_{e}\gamma)\big)}/{\Gamma\big((\pi^{+} \rightarrow \mu^{+} \nu_{\mu})+(\pi^{+} \rightarrow \mu^{+} \nu_{\mu}\gamma)\big)}$ with precision $<$0.1\%. Incident pions, delivered at the rate of 60 kHz with momentum 75 MeV/c, were degraded and stopped in a plastic scintillator target. Pions and their decay product positrons were detected with plastic scintillators and tracked with multiwire proportional chambers and silicon strip detectors. The energies of the positrons were measured in a spectrometer consisting of a large NaI(T$\ell$) crystal surrounded by an array of pure CsI crystals. This paper provides a description of the PIENU experimental apparatus and its performance in pursuit of $R^{e/\mu}$.