Direct CP violation in charged kaon decays by the NA48/2 experiment at CERN

The NA48/2 experiment at CERN is performing high precision studies of charged kaon decays, using an upgraded NA48 setup and a novel design for simultaneous unseparated K+/- beams. The,am goal is to search for direct CP violation in decays to three pions with a sensitivity at a level of 10(-4) on the asymmetry A(g) = (g(+) - g(-))/(g(+) + g(-)) where g is the linear slope parameter in the Dalitz plot. The experimental procedure and the main systematic effects are discussed, based on the preliminary analysis of a fraction (less than 50%) of the data recorded. The statistical errors on the K+/- -> pi(+)pi(-)pi(+/-) and K+/- -> pi(0)pi(0)pi(+/-) asymmetries are 2.7 x 10(-4) and 5 x 10(-4). respectively. The large amount of charged kaon decays collected allow also precision measurements of several rare decay processes.