Strange Form Factors and Precision Standard Model Tests

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This grant supports research that seeks to answer a fundamental question about matter. What is the nature of any new physics not described by the Standard Model of electroweak physics? This question will be addressed by the Qweak experiment at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. It will measure the proton's neutral weak charge via parity-violating electron scattering at very low momentum transfer. The proton's weak charge has a well-defined prediction in the Standard Model; a precise measurement of it is sensitive to many popular scenarios for extending the Standard Model. Our group is responsible for the design and construction of three pieces of hardware for the Qweak experiment - a set of drift chambers, a rotation device for rotating the drift chambers to the different desired positions, and a set of luminosity monitor detectors. During the period of this grant, we will be completing construction, installation, and commissioning of the hardware. We will also carry out the commissioning and a good fraction of the production running of the experiment. The projects we are working on involve a wide range of hardware and software tasks that will contribute to the education of graduate and undergraduate students working on the project.