arXiv subjects

Qweak Collaboration

Publications and source records attributed to Qweak Collaboration.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2014

The Q_weak Experimental Apparatus

The Jefferson Lab Q_weak experiment determined the weak charge of the proton by measuring the parity-violating elastic scattering asymmetry of longitudinally polarized electrons from an unpolarized liquid hydrogen target at small momentum transfer. A custom apparatus was designed for this experiment to meet the technical challenges presented by the smallest and most precise ${\vec{e}}$p asymmetry ever measured. Technical milestones were achieved at Jefferson Lab in target power, beam current, beam helicity reversal rate, polarimetry, detected rates, and control of helicity-correlated beam properties. The experiment employed 180 microA of 89% longitudinally polarized electrons whose helicity was reversed 960 times per second. The electrons were accelerated to 1.16 GeV and directed to a beamline with extensive instrumentation to measure helicity-correlated beam properties that can induce false asymmetries. Moller and Compton polarimetry were used to measure the electron beam polarization to better than 1%. The electron beam was incident on a 34.4 cm liquid hydrogen target. After passing through a triple collimator system, scattered electrons between 5.8 degrees and 11.6 degrees were bent in the toroidal magnetic field of a resistive copper-coil magnet. The electrons inside this acceptance were focused onto eight fused silica Cerenkov detectors arrayed symmetrically around the beam axis. A total scattered electron rate of about 7 GHz was incident on the detector array. The detectors were read out in integrating mode by custom-built low-noise pre-amplifiers and 18-bit sampling ADC modules. The momentum transfer Q^2 = 0.025 GeV^2 was determined using dedicated low-current (~100 pA) measurements with a set of drift chambers before (and a set of drift chambers and trigger scintillation counters after) the toroidal magnet.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2013

First Determination of the Weak Charge of the Proton

The Qweak experiment has measured the parity-violating asymmetry in polarized e-p elastic scattering at Q^2 = 0.025(GeV/c)^2, employing 145 microamps of 89% longitudinally polarized electrons on a 34.4cm long liquid hydrogen target at Jefferson Lab. The results of the experiment's commissioning run are reported here, constituting approximately 4% of the data collected in the experiment. From these initial results the measured asymmetry is Aep = -279 +- 35 (statistics) +- 31 (systematics) ppb, which is the smallest and most precise asymmetry ever measured in polarized e-p scattering. The small Q^2 of this experiment has made possible the first determination of the weak charge of the proton, QpW, by incorporating earlier parity-violating electron scattering (PVES) data at higher Q^2 to constrain hadronic corrections. The value of QpW obtained in this way is QpW(PVES) = 0.064 +- 0.012, in good agreement with the Standard Model prediction of QpW(SM) = 0.0710 +- 0.0007. When this result is further combined with the Cs atomic parity violation (APV) measurement, significant constraints on the weak charges of the up and down quarks can also be extracted. That PVES+APV analysis reveals the neutron's weak charge to be QnW(PVES+APV) = -0.975 +- 0.010.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2007

The Qweak Experiment -- A search for new physics at the TeV Scale

A new precision measurement of the parity violating analyzing power in longitudinally polarized electron scattering from the proton at very low Q^2 at an incident energy of 1.16 GeV is in the final stages of preparation for execution at Jefferson Laboratory (JLab). A 2200 hour measurement of the parity violating asymmetry in elastic electron-proton scattering at Q^2 = 0.03 (GeV/c)^2 employing 180 microamp of 85% polarized beam on a 0.35 m long liquid hydrogen target will determine the weak charge of the proton, Q_w = 1 - 4sin^2(theta_W), with 4% combined statistical and systematic errors. The Standard Model makes a firm prediction of Q_w, based on the `running' of the weak mixing angle sin^2(theta_W) from the Z-pole down to lower energies. Any significant deviation of sin^2(theta_W) from its Standard Model prediction at low Q^2 would constitute a signal of new physics. In the absence of new physics, the envisaged experiment will provide a 0.3% determination of sin^2(theta_W), making this a very competitive measurement of the weak mixing angle. Complementary to the present experiment is a measurement of the weak charge of the electron in parity violating Moller scattering at 11 GeV, currently under consideration, with the upgraded CEBAF at JLab. The objective of that experiment would be a measurement of sin2(theta_W) with a precision comparable to or better than any individual measurement at the Z-pole.

nucl-ex↗