BackgroundsPhysIntro

Introduction

The Mu2e Experiment is measuring an extremely rare process, even if we are fortunate to have a strong signal, which means that it is critical for us to keep our backgrounds low and for them to be well-understood. Our backgrounds are anything that can be mistakenly selected as an electron from a muon conversion. This includes electrons from other sources that have either had their momenta mis-measured, or that happen to have the same momentum as our signal electrons. But the backgrounds can also come from particles that are mis-identified as electrons. We have sources of backgrounds both from the running of the experiment (beam-related backgrounds, cascades of particles in the detector due to other interactions) and also from nature (in the form of cosmic rays, or other natural sources of radiation.) Our ability to control and understand these backgrounds is directly tied to the sensitivity of our measurement.