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We have observed a significant enhancement in the energy deposition by 25–$$100~\textrm{GeV}$$$100\text{GeV}$photons in a$$1~\textrm{cm}$$$1\text{cm}$thick tungsten crystal oriented along its$$\langle 111 \rangle $$$⟨111⟩$lattice axes. At$$100~\textrm{GeV}$$$100\text{GeV}$, this enhancement, with respect to the value observed without axial alignment, is more than twofold. This effect, together with the measured huge increase in secondary particle generation is ascribed to the acceleration of the electromagnetic shower development by the strong axial electric field. The experimental results have been critically compared with a newly developed Monte Carlo adapted for use with crystals of multi-$$X_0$$$X_0$thickness. The results presented in this paper may prove to be of significant interest for the development of high-performance photon absorbers and highly compact electromagnetic calorimeters and beam dumps for use at the energy and intensity frontiers.

A bstract The NA62 experiment reports the branching ratio measurement $$ \mathrm{BR}\left({K}^{+}\to {\pi}^{+}\nu \overline{\nu}\right)=\left({10.6}_{-3.4}^{+4.0}\left|{}_{\mathrm{stat}}\right.\pm {0.9}_{\mathrm{syst}}\right)\times {10}^{-11} $$ BR K + → π + ν ν ¯ = 10.6 − 3.4 + 4.0 stat ± 0.9 syst × 10 − 11 at 68% CL, based on the observation of 20 signal candidates with an expected background of 7.0 events from the total data sample collected at the CERN SPS during 2016–2018. This provides evidence for the very rare K + → $$ {\pi}^{+}\nu \overline{\nu} $$ π + ν ν ¯ decay, observed with a significance of 3.4 σ . The experiment achieves a single event sensitivity of (0 . 839 ± 0 . 054) × 10 − 11 , corresponding to 10.0 events assuming the Standard Model branching ratio of (8 . 4 ± 1 . 0) × 10 − 11 . This measurement is also used to set limits on BR( K + → π + X ), where X is a scalar or pseudo-scalar particle. Details are given of the analysis of the 2018 data sample, which corresponds to about 80% of the total data sample.

A bstract A search for the K + → π + X decay, where X is a long-lived feebly interacting particle, is performed through an interpretation of the K + → $$ {\pi}^{+}\nu \overline{\nu} $$ π + ν ν ¯ analysis of data collected in 2017 by the NA62 experiment at CERN. Two ranges of X masses, 0–110 MeV /c 2 and 154–260 MeV /c 2 , and lifetimes above 100 ps are considered. The limits set on the branching ratio, BR( K + → π + X ), are competitive with previously reported searches in the first mass range, and improve on current limits in the second mass range by more than an order of magnitude.

A bstract The NA62 experiment at the CERN SPS reports a study of a sample of 4 × 10 9 tagged π 0 mesons from K + → π + π 0 ( γ ), searching for the decay of the π 0 to invisible particles. No signal is observed in excess of the expected background fluctuations. An upper limit of 4 . 4 × 10 − 9 is set on the branching ratio at 90% confidence level, improving on previous results by a factor of 60. This result can also be interpreted as a model- independent upper limit on the branching ratio for the decay K + → π + X , where X is a particle escaping detection with mass in the range 0.110–0.155 GeV /c 2 and rest lifetime greater than 100 ps. Model-dependent upper limits are obtained assuming X to be an axion-like particle with dominant fermion couplings or a dark scalar mixing with the Standard Model Higgs boson.

A bstract The NA62 experiment reports an investigation of the $$ {K}^{+}\to {\pi}^{+}\nu \overline{\nu} $$ K + → π + ν ν ¯ mode from a sample of K + decays collected in 2017 at the CERN SPS. The experiment has achieved a single event sensitivity of (0 . 389 ± 0 . 024) × 10 − 10 , corresponding to 2.2 events assuming the Standard Model branching ratio of (8 . 4 ± 1 . 0) × 10 − 11 . Two signal candidates are observed with an expected background of 1.5 events. Combined with the result of a similar analysis conducted by NA62 on a smaller data set recorded in 2016, the collaboration now reports an upper limit of 1 . 78 × 10 − 10 for the $$ {K}^{+}\to {\pi}^{+}\nu \overline{\nu} $$ K + → π + ν ν ¯ branching ratio at 90% CL. This, together with the corresponding 68% CL measurement of ( $$ {0.48}_{-0.48}^{+0.72} $$ 0.48 − 0.48 + 0.72 ) × 10 − 10 , are currently the most precise results worldwide, and are able to constrain some New Physics models that predict large enhancements still allowed by previous measurements.