Analysis of Monte Carlo data at low energies in electron-positron collider experiments using Initial State Radiation

Abstract: This report explores a novel application of the initial state radiation (radiative return) method in an electron-positron collider, to measure the electron-positron annihilation into a neutral pion and a photon  reaction cross section at low energies. The challenge of using ISR events for analysis is due to the combinatorics issue presented by the extra photon(s) in the final state. Through measuring the cross section, access is gained to the time-like electromagnetic transition form factor (TFF) of the neutral pion. This can be used to constrain theoretical models of the hadronic light-by-light scattering contribution to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon (AMM). The aim of this project was to determine if existing, or expected, data samples at the experiments KLOE-2 in Frascati and BES-III in Beijing could provide competitive results for the time-like TFF slope parameter. The analysis was performed through the construction of an event generator, where events were generated for three different reaction models. Considering the amount of data available at low energies, this study indicates that the ISR approach could be a viable option to enhance the data sample in the low energy region. The most promising experiment for further analysis is here indicated to be KLOE-2. Compared to tabulated values for the form factor slope parameter, the uncertainty retrieved here is roughly on the same order of magnitude or smaller.