Measuring the muon's anomalous magnetic moment to 0.14 ppm

The anomalous magnetic moment (g-2) of the muon was measured with a precision of 0.54 ppm in Experiment 821 at Brookhaven National Laboratory. A difference of 3.2 standard deviations between this experimental value and the prediction of the Standard Model has persisted since 2004; in spite of considerable experimental and theoretical effort, there is no consistent explanation for this difference. This comparison hints at physics beyond the Standard Model, but it also imposes strong constraints on those possibilities, which include supersymmetry and extra dimensions. The collaboration is preparing to relocate the experiment to Fermilab to continue towards a proposed precision of 0.14 ppm. This will require 20 times more recorded decays than in the previous measurement, with corresponding improvements in the systematic uncertainties. We describe the theoretical developments and the experimental upgrades that provide a compelling motivation for the new measurement.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, presented at International Nuclear Physics Conference 2010 (INPC 2010

Strange Quark Mass from the Invariant Mass Distribution of Cabibbo-Suppressed Tau Decays

Quark mass corrections to the tau hadronic width play a significant role only for the strange quark, hence providing a method for determining its mass. The experimental input is the vector plus axial-vector strange spectral function derived from a complete study of tau decays into strange hadronic final states performed by ALEPH. New results on strange decay modes from other experiments are also incorporated. The present analysis determines the strange quark mass at the Mtau mass scale using moments of the spectral function. Justified theoretical constraints are applied to the nonperturbative components and careful attention is paid to the treatment of the perturbative expansions of the moments which exhibit convergence problems. The result obtained, m_s(Mtau^2) = (120 +- 11_exp +- 8_Vus +- 19_th) MeV = (120^+21_-26) MeV, is stable over the scale from Mtau down to about 1.4 GeV. Evolving this result to customary scales yields m_s(1 GeV^2) = (160^+28_-35) MeV and m_s(4 GeV^2) = (116^+20_-25) MeV.Comment: LaTex, 8 pages, 4 figures (EPS

High Efficiency Positron Accumulation for High-Precision Measurements

Positrons are accumulated within a Penning trap designed to make more precise measurements of the positron and electron magnetic moments. The retractable radioactive source used is weak enough to require no license for handling radioactive material and the radiation dosage one meter from the source gives an exposure several times smaller than the average radiation dose on the earth's surface. The 100 mK trap is mechanically aligned with the 4.2 K superconducting solenoid that produces a 6 tesla magnetic trapping field with a direct mechanical coupling.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figure

Form factors of radiative pion decays in nonlocal chiral quark models

We study the radiative pion decay pi+ -> e+ nu_e gamma within nonlocal chiral quark models that include wave function renormalization. In this framework we analyze the momentum dependence of the vector form factor F_V(q^2), and the slope of the axial-vector form factor F_A(q^2) at threshold. Our results are compared with available experimental information and with the predictions given by the NJL model. In addition we calculate the low energy constants l_5 and l_6, comparing our results with the values obtained in chiral perturbation theory.Comment: 22 pages, 1 figure. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1011.640

Two-photon form factors of the pi0, eta and eta-prime mesons in the chiral theory with resonances

We have developed a phenomenological approach which describes very well the pi0, eta and eta-prime meson production in the two-photon interactions. The simultaneous description of the pi0, eta and eta-prime meson two-photon form factors is consistent with data in the space-like region. The obtained form factors are implemented in the event generator EKHARA and the simulated cross sections are presented. Uncertainties in the measured form factors coming from the model dependence in Monte Carlo simulations are studied. The model predictions for the form factor slopes at the origin are given and the high-Q2 limit is also discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables; two-column revtex4 styl

Chiral Defect Fermions and the Layered Phase

Chiral defect fermions on the lattice in 4+1 dimensions are analyzed using mean field theory. The fermion propagator has a localized chiral mode in weak coupling but loses it when the coupling in the unphysical fifth direction becomes too large. A layered phase \`a la Fu-Nielsen appears where the theory is vector-like in every layer.Comment: 9 pages + postscript figure (We have correctly quoted the work of our reference 10 in the paper