Nuclear Spin-Dependent Parity Nonconservation in Molecules

这个项目是正在进行的测量某些类型的电弱相互作用强度的实验的继续。弱电作用力(自然界的四种基本作用力之一)引起粒子和电磁场的右手和左手构型之间的内在能量差异。在这里，分子被用在一个新的方案中，将这种(通常是微小的)效应放大许多个数量级。这应该可以测量电弱力的尚不可知的特征，特别是它是如何被原子核内的强力所改变的。我们的桌面规模实验旨在为大型加速器实验室正在进行的工作提供数据补充。该项目涉及广泛的学生培训。一名在读的博士生正在完成他的实验论文，另一名正在寻找，本科生经常参与到这项工作中来。该项目还将继续包括重要的合作努力，例如：美国海岸警卫队学院的一名教员的参与；与化学家的跨学科合作；以及与俄罗斯和美国的理论家合作。此外，我们面临和解决的广泛的技术挑战自然会导致衍生产品，具有可能的广泛应用，例如检测某些分子的痕量的新的灵敏方法；精确测量磁场的新方法等。

This project is a continuation of an ongoing experiment to measure the strength of certain types of electroweak interactions. The electroweak force (one of the four fundamental forces in nature) gives rise to an intrinsic energy difference between right- and left-handed configurations of particles and electromagnetic fields. Here, molecules are used in a novel scheme to amplify this (usually tiny) effect by many orders of magnitude. This should make it possible to measure as-yet unseen features of the electroweak force, in particular how it is modified by the presence of the strong force inside an atomic nucleus. Our table-top scale experiment is designed to provide data complementary to work ongoing at large accelerator laboratories.This project involves extensive student training. One current PhD student is completing his thesis on the experiment, and another will be sought, and undergraduates are frequently involved in the work. This project will also continue to include significant collaborative effort such as: participation of a faculty member from the US Coast Guard Academy; cross-disciplinary collaborations with chemists; and work with theorists in both Russia and the U.S. In addition, the wide range of technical challenges we face and solve naturally leads to spin-offs with possible broad applications, such as new sensitive methods for detecting trace amounts of certain molecules; new methods for precisely measuring magnetic fields; etc.