| Friday, March 19 | Guillaume Pignol, Technische Universitat Munchen
"The PSI neutron EDM experiment"
The search for the neutron electric dipole moment at the Paul Scherrer Institut Neutron Electric Dipole Moment (EDM) experiments provide tight constraints on extensions to the Standard Model, which attempt to elaborate the mechanisms of CP violation. The latest result set the upper limit for the neutron EDM to 3x10^(-26) ecm. The apparatus holding the world record has been moved from the Institut Laue Langevin to the Paul Sherrer Institut where a more intense ultracold neutron source is being built. Measurements are expected to start in summer 2010 with a sensitivity of 5x10^(-27) ecm. nEDM spectrometers can be used for other precision measurements. I will present the results of a stringent test of Lorentz invariance performed recently at the Institut Laue Langevin with the same apparatus. |
| Date | Speaker |
|---|---|
| Special Kellogg Seminar Wednesday, September 23 11:00 a.m. |
Andreas Knecht, Paul Scherrer Institut and University of
Zurich "Towards a New Measurement of the Neutron Electric Dipole Moment" Neutron Electric Dipole Moment (EDM) experiments provide tight constraints on extensions to the Standard Model, which attempt to elaborate the mechanisms of CP violation. The latest result set the upper limit for the neutron EDM to 2.9x10^(-26) ecm. Here, I will focus on the new nEDM experiment being set up at the Paul Scherrer Institut. Measurements are expected to start in spring 2010 with a sensitivity of 5x10^(-27) ecm. A new and improved apparatus will, at a later stage, yield an additional increase in sensitivity down to 5x10^(-28) ecm. After a general introduction, I will concentrate on the contributions to the project achieved during my PhD thesis. i) Assessment and possible countermeasures to the systematic errors for the upcoming measurement period, ii) the construction and testing of an efficient energy dependent ultracold neutron detection system, and iii) the first physics result obtained by our collaboration with the apparatus: the limit on neutron to mirror-neutron oscillations. |
| Friday, October 9 | Xin Qian, Duke University "Single-Spin Asymmetry Measurement with a Transversely Polarized ^3He Target at JLab Hall A" |
| Friday, December 4 | Hugh Lippincott, Yale "DEAP/CLEAN: Detecting dark matter with liquid argon (and neon)" |
| Special Kellogg Seminar Wednesday, January 6 |
Keh-Fei Liu, University of Kentucky "Progress on Finite Density and Precision Lattice QCD Calculations" |
| Friday, January 8 | Christopher O'Shaughnessy, NCSU Precision Measurement of the Neutron Lifetime: Magnetically Trapped Ultracold Neutrons The neutron lifetime is important in both nuclear astrophysics and in understanding weak interactions in the framework of the Standard Model. It is the most important experimental parameter in theoretical predictions of the primordial abundance of 4He in Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. A precision measurement will also provide self consistency checks of the unitarity of the CKM mixing matrix which relates the weak and mass eigenstates of quarks in the Standard Model. Our group has successfully demonstrated the trapping of ultracold neutrons (UCN) in a conservative potential magnetic trap, and measured a lifetime consistent with the world average. A major upgrade of the apparatus is currently being assembled at the NIST Center for Neutron Research to address statistical limitations of the former measurement. Our unique approach to this measurement will be discussed as well as the advantages it provides, and ongoing studies of the systematics which arise. Tests of the upgrade components and details of the final stages of construction will also be presented. |
Leona Kershaw, 9 February2010