Qweak Experiment: Measurement of the Proton's Weak Charge

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A major new experiment to search for physics beyond the Standard Model of fundamental particle interactions is about to start taking data at Jefferson Laboratory, North America's premier electron beam accelerator facility for nuclear and particle physics research. The `Qweak' experiment will measure the proton's weak charge -- a basic property that determines how a proton responds to the weak interaction. One of the Standard Model's key predictions is that the strengths of all interactions, characterized by `coupling constants' are in fact energy scale dependent. This property has not yet been tested to high precision for the weak interaction. By measuring the proton's weak charge, we will be able to determine whether the anticipated `running' of the weak interaction