https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-017-4633-z
Regular Article - Experimental Physics
Measuring the leading hadronic contribution to the muon g-2 via 
scattering
1
INFN Bologna, Viale Carlo Berti-Pichat 6/2, 40127 , Bologna, Italy
2
INFN Pavia, Via Agostino Bassi 6, 27100 , Pavia, Italy
3
INFN Bologna, Via Irnerio 46, 40126 , Bologna, Italy
4
INFN Milano Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 3, 20126 , Milan, Italy
5
Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Pavia, Via A. Bassi 6, 27100, Pavia, Italy
6
INFN Padova, Via Francesco Marzolo 8, 35131, Padua, Italy
7
INFN Pisa, Largo Bruno Pontecorvo 3, 56127, Pisa, Italy
8
Dipartimento di Fisica e Scienze della Terra “M. Melloni”, Parco Area delle Scienze 7/A, 43124, Parma, Italy
9
INFN, Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, Via E. Fermi 40, 00044, Frascati, RM, Italy
* e-mail: umberto.marconi@bo.infn.it
Received:
17
October
2016
Accepted:
17
January
2017
Published online:
1
March
2017
We propose a new experiment to measure the running of the electromagnetic coupling constant in the space-like region by scattering high-energy muons on atomic electrons of a low-Z target through the elastic process 
. The differential cross section of this process, measured as a function of the squared momentum transfer 
, provides direct sensitivity to the leading-order hadronic contribution to the muon anomaly 
. By using a muon beam of 150 GeV, with an average rate of 
1.3 
muon/s, currently available at the CERN North Area, a statistical uncertainty of 0.3% can be achieved on after two years of data taking. The direct measurement of via scattering will provide an independent determination, competitive with the time-like dispersive approach, and consolidate the theoretical prediction for the muon g-2 in the Standard Model. It will allow therefore a firmer interpretation of the measurements of the future muon g-2 experiments at Fermilab and J-PARC.
© The Author(s), 2017
