The Qweak Experiment -- A search for new physics at the TeV Scale by measurement of the proton's weak charge

Abstract

From a distance, the proton's weak charge is seen through the distorting effects of clouds of virtual particles. The effective weak charge can be calculated by starting with the measured weak coupling at the Z-pole and "running" the coupling to lower energy or, equivalently, longer distances. Because the "electroweak radiative corrections" or "loop diagrams" which give rise to the running depend not only on known particles, but on particles which have not yet been discovered, a difference between the calculated and measured weak charges may signal new physics. A measurement of Qweak to 4% will be sensitive to new physics at the few TeV scale. The Qweak experiment is based on the fact that the parity-violating longitudinal analyzing power, Az, in electron-proton scattering at low momentum transfer and small scattering angle, is proportional to the proton's weak charge. The experiment plans to measure the predicted Az of -0.3 ppm with a combined statistical and systematic uncertainty of 2.2%, corresponding to a total uncertainty of 4% of Qweak. This requires a statistical precision of 5 x 10^-9, which can be achieved in 2200 hours with an 85% polarized, 180 microamp electron beam incident on a 0.35 m liquid hydrogen target. A synchronous data acquisition system will integrate the detector current signals over each spin state and extract the helicity correlated, parity violating component.