Tag: weak force

New Insights on the Interplay of Electromagnetism and the Weak Nuclear Force

sarah JonasResearch Results

Outside atomic nuclei, neutrons are unstable, disintegrating in about fifteen minutes due to the weak nuclear force to leave behind a proton, an electron, and an antineutrino. New research identified a shift in the strength with which a spinning neutron experiences the weak nuclear force, due to emission and absorption of photons and pions. The finding impacts high precision searches of new, beyond the Standard Model interactions in beta decay.

Critical Decision-3A Clears Way Toward Standard Model Test

sarah JonasAnnouncement

The U.S. Department of Energy has given the greenlight for the MOLLER experiment to begin procurement of key components with its granting of Critical Decision-3A (CD-3A): Approve Long Lead Procurements. The determination allows the MOLLER project at Jefferson Lab to begin spending $9.14 million for long-lead procurements of critical items for which designs are complete. The MOLLER collaboration formed in 2006, and more than 100 physicists from more than 30 institutions are now involved. MOLLER will make a measurement of the electron’s weak charge that is five times more precise than any before. The electron’s weak charge is essentially how much influence the weak force exerts on the electron.

Partnership Contributes Toward Sharp Eyes for MOLLER Experiment

sarah JonasAnnouncement

Thirteen universities working on a new experiment to be carried out at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility have recently been awarded new grants totaling more than $9 million. The grants come from the National Science Foundation and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, with a matching award for the CFI grant from Research Manitoba. The grants benefit the Measurement of a Lepton-Lepton Electroweak Reaction Experiment, called MOLLER.

Experiment to Precisely Measure Electrons Moves Forward

sarah JonasAnnouncement

The MOLLER experiment at DOE’s Jefferson Lab is one step closer to carrying out an experiment to gain new insight into the forces at work inside the heart of matter through probes of the humble electron. The experiment has just received a designation of Critical Decision 1, or CD-1, from the DOE, which is a greenlight to move forward in design and prototyping of equipment.

Scientists achieve higher precision weak force measurement between protons, neutrons

sarah JonasResearch Results

Through a one-of-a-kind experiment at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, nuclear physicists have precisely measured the weak interaction between protons and neutrons. The result quantifies the weak force theory as predicted by the Standard Model of Particle Physics.