Parity violating pion electroproduction off the nucleon

Parity violating (PV) contributions due to interference between $\gamma$ and $Z^0$ exchange are calculated for pion electroproduction off the nucleon. A phenomenological model with effective Lagrangians is used to determine the resulting asymmetry for the energy region between threshold and $\Delta(1232)$ resonance. The $\Delta$ resonance is treated as a Rarita-Schwinger field with phenomenological $N \Delta$ transition currents. The background contributions are given by the usual Born terms using the pseudovector $\pi N$ Lagrangian. Numerical results for the asymmetry are presented.Comment: 17 pages, RevTeX, 6 figures (in separate file figs.uu), uses epsf, accepted for publication in Z. Phys.

Recent Progress at SLAC Extracting High Charge from Highly-Polarized Photocathodes for Future-Collider Applications

Future colliders such as NLC and JLC will require a highly-polarized macropulse with charge that is more than an order of magnitude beyond that which could be produced for the SLC. The maximum charge from the SLC uniformly-doped GaAs photocathode was limited by the surface charge limit (SCL). The SCL effect can be overcome by using an extremely high (>1019 cm-3) surface dopant concentration. When combined with a medium dopant concentration in the majority of the active layer (to avoid depolarization), the surface concentration has been found to degrade during normal heat cleaning (1 hour at 600 C). The Be dopant as typically used in an MBE-grown superlattice cathode is especially susceptible to this effect compared to Zn or C dopant. Some relief can be found by lowering the cleaning temperature, but the long-term general solution appears to be atomic hydrogen cleaning.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, contributed to 10th Workshop on Polarized Sources and Targets, Novosibirsk, Sept. 22-26, 2003, to be submitted to Nucl. Instrum. and Meth.

Neutral weak currents in pion electroproduction on the nucleon

Parity violating asymmetry in inclusive scattering of longitudinally polarized electrons by unpolarized protons with $\pi^0$ or $\pi^+$ meson production, is calculated as a function of the momentum transfer squared $Q^2$ and the total energy $W$ of the $\pi N$-system. This asymmetry, which is induced by the interference of the one-photon exchange amplitude with the parity-odd part of the $Z^0$-exchange amplitude, is calculated for the $\gamma^*(Z^*)+p\to N+\pi$ processes ($\gamma^*$ is a virtual photon and $Z^*$ a virtual Z-boson) considering the $\Delta$-contribution in the $s-$channel, the standard Born contributions and vector meson ($\rho$ and $\omega$) exchanges in the $t-$channel. Taking into account the known isotopic properties of the hadron electromagnetic and neutral currents, we show that the P-odd term is the sum of two contributions. The main term is model independent and it can be calculated exactly in terms of fundamental constants. It is found to be linear in $Q^2$. The second term is a relatively small correction which is determined by the isoscalar component of the electromagnetic current. Near threshold and in the $\Delta$-region, this isoscalar part is much smaller (in absolute value) than the isovector one: its contribution to the asymmetry depend on the polarization state (longitudinal or transverse) of the virtual photon.Comment: 30 pages 9 figure

Mobility of thorium ions in liquid xenon

We present a measurement of the $^{226}$Th ion mobility in LXe at 163.0 K and 0.9 bar. The result obtained, 0.240$\pm$0.011 (stat) $\pm$0.011 (syst) cm$^{2}$/(kV-s), is compared with a popular model of ion transport.Comment: 6.5 pages,

A linear RFQ ion trap for the Enriched Xenon Observatory

The design, construction, and performance of a linear radio-frequency ion trap (RFQ) intended for use in the Enriched Xenon Observatory (EXO) are described. EXO aims to detect the neutrinoless double-beta decay of $^{136}$Xe to $^{136}$Ba. To suppress possible backgrounds EXO will complement the measurement of decay energy and, to some extent, topology of candidate events in a Xe filled detector with the identification of the daughter nucleus ($^{136}$Ba). The ion trap described here is capable of accepting, cooling, and confining individual Ba ions extracted from the site of the candidate double-beta decay event. A single trapped ion can then be identified, with a large signal-to-noise ratio, via laser spectroscopy.Comment: 18 pages, pdflatex, submitted to NIM

Parity Violating Measurements of Neutron Densities

Parity violating electron nucleus scattering is a clean and powerful tool for measuring the spatial distributions of neutrons in nuclei with unprecedented accuracy. Parity violation arises from the interference of electromagnetic and weak neutral amplitudes, and the $Z^0$ of the Standard Model couples primarily to neutrons at low $Q^2$. The data can be interpreted with as much confidence as electromagnetic scattering. After briefly reviewing the present theoretical and experimental knowledge of neutron densities, we discuss possible parity violation measurements, their theoretical interpretation, and applications. The experiments are feasible at existing facilities. We show that theoretical corrections are either small or well understood, which makes the interpretation clean. The quantitative relationship to atomic parity nonconservation observables is examined, and we show that the electron scattering asymmetries can be directly applied to atomic PNC because the observables have approximately the same dependence on nuclear shape.Comment: 38 pages, 7 ps figures, very minor changes, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Role of beam polarization in the determination of WWγWW\gamma and WWZWWZ couplings from e+e−→W+W−e^+e^-\to W^+W^-

We evaluate the constraints on anomalous trilinear gauge-boson couplings that can be obtained from the study of electron-positron annihilation into $W$ pairs at a facility with either the electron beam longitudinally polarized or both electron and positron beams transversely polarized. The energy ranges considered in the analysis are the ones relevant to the next-linear collider and to LEP~200. We discuss the possibilities of a model independent analysis of the general $CP$ conserving anomalous effective Lagrangian, as well as its restriction to some specific models with reduced number of independent couplings. The combination of observables with initial and final state polarizations allows to separately constrain the different couplings and to improve the corresponding numerical bounds.Comment: 24 pages, LaTeX, 9 figures (available on request from the authors

A liquid xenon ionization chamber in an all-fluoropolymer vessel

A novel technique has been developed to build vessels for liquid xenon ionization detectors entirely out of ultra-clean fluoropolymer. We describe the advantages in terms of low radioactivity contamination, provide some details of the construction techniques, and show the energy resolution achieved with a prototype all-fluoropolymer ionization detector.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figure

Systematic study of trace radioactive impurities in candidate construction materials for EXO-200

The Enriched Xenon Observatory (EXO) will search for double beta decays of 136Xe. We report the results of a systematic study of trace concentrations of radioactive impurities in a wide range of raw materials and finished parts considered for use in the construction of EXO-200, the first stage of the EXO experimental program. Analysis techniques employed, and described here, include direct gamma counting, alpha counting, neutron activation analysis, and high-sensitivity mass spectrometry.Comment: 32 pages, 6 figures. Expanded introduction, added missing table entry. Accepted for publication in Nucl. Instrum. Meth.

Future Directions in Parity Violation: From Quarks to the Cosmos

I discuss the prospects for future studies of parity-violating (PV) interactions at low energies and the insights they might provide about open questions in the Standard Model as well as physics that lies beyond it. I cover four types of parity-violating observables: PV electron scattering; PV hadronic interactions; PV correlations in weak decays; and searches for the permanent electric dipole moments of quantum systems.Comment: Talk given at PAVI 06 workshop on parity-violating interactions, Milos, Greece (May, 2006); 10 page