Status of the Mu3e Experiment at PSI

Abstract

The Mu3e experiment aims to search for the lepton-flavour violating decay $\mu^+\rightarrow\ \text{e}^+ \text{e}^+ \text{e}^-$ with a sensitivity to one signal decay in $10^{16}$ muon decays at a muon stopping rate of $2\times 10^9 \frac{\mu}{\text{s}}$. With currently available rates of $10^8 \frac{\mu}{\text{s}}$, a sensitivity on the branching ratio of $10^{-15}$ is the aim of the first phase. This will allow for tests of new physics models with enhanced branching ratios for lepton-flavour violating processes with an unprecedented precision. The experiment must be operated at very high muon rates all the while suppressing the background of the decay $\mu^+\rightarrow\ \text{e}^+ \text{e}^- \text{e}^+ \overline{\nu}_\mu \nu_\text{e}$ and accidental electron-positron combinations. Therefore, a tracking detector made of thin pixel sensors with additional scintillating fibres and tiles for precise time measurement will be built. The development of the subdetectors is ongoing while detector construction is still in preparation.