Speaker
Michael Gericke
(University of Manitoba, Winnipeg)
Description
The n3He experiment aims to measure the parity violating asymmetry in the direction of proton emission in the reaction vec{n}+3He-> 3H+p, using the capture of polarized cold neutrons in an unpolarized gaseous 3He target. Using effective field theory based calculations, the size of the asymmetry is estimated to be in the range of (-9.5 --> 2.5) X 10^{-8}, and our goal measurement accuracy is 2 X 10^{-8}. The asymmetry is a result of the low energy weak interaction between nucleons and its measurement will provide a benchmark for modern effective field theory calculations. The asymmetry isolates the I = 0 components of the hadronic weak interaction. The experiment uses a 3He multiwire ionization chamber as the combined target and detector operated in current mode. The n3He experiment was installed and commissioned in December 2014 on the Fundamental Neutron Physics Beamline at the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The experiment is currently taking production data. I will provide an overview of the experiment and the physics and will discuss some of the data collected to date.
Primary author
Michael Gericke
(University of Manitoba, Winnipeg)
