A Clean Measurement of the Neutron Skin of 208Pb Through Parity Violating Electron Scattering
The difference between the neutron radius Rn of a heavy nucleus and the proton radius Rp is believed to be on the order of several percent. This qualitative feature of nuclei, which is essentially a neutron skin, has proven to be elusive to pin down experimentally in a rigorous fashion. A new Jefferson Lab experiment will measure the parity-violating electroweak asymmetry in the elastic scattering of polarized electrons from 208Pb. Since the Z-boson couples mainly to neutrons, this asymmetry provides a measure of the size of Rn that can be interpreted with as much confidence as the traditional electron scattering data. The projected experimental precision corresponds to a 1% determination of Rn, which will have a big impact on nuclear theory and its application to neutron rich matter such as neutron stars.
- Research Organization:
- Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF), Newport News, VA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE - Office of Energy Research (ER)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-84ER40150
- OSTI ID:
- 877162
- Report Number(s):
- JLAB-PHY-02-152; DOE/ER/40150-3818; TRN: US0601292
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: SPIN 2002, Upton, New York (USA), 9-14 September 2002
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Measurement of the Neutron Radius of 208Pb Through Parity Violation in Electron Scattering