Limits on CP-invariance violation in K/sub. mu. 3/ decay

Thesis/Dissertation · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1982

OSTI ID:6146912

Campbell, M K

The component of muon polarization in K/sup +/ ..-->.. ..mu../sup +/ ..pi../sup 0/ nu decay normal to the decay plane has recently been measured at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The quantity vector sigma/sub ..mu../ (vector P/sub ..pi../ x vector P/sub ..mu../ is odd under time reversal and a finite expectation value for this quantity would constitute a violation of time reversal invariance or, using the CPT theorem, CP invariance. A 4 GeV positive non-separated beam was used as a source of kaons. The decay plane of the kaon was defined by a photon from the pion decay detected in a lead glass array placed on the beam axis and the azimuthal angle of the muon measured by scintillation counter hodoscopes. The muons were brought to rest in an aluminum polarimeter where they precessed in a 55 gauss magnetic field. The spin direction of the muon was measured by the asymmetry in the detection of the positron from the decay ..mu../sup +/ ..-->.. e/sup +/ nu/sub e/anti nu/sub ..mu../. Twenty million events were collected and analyzed. The transverse polarization was measured to be 6.09 +- 0.029. 10/sup -1/ and the polarization normal to the decay plane, the CP violating component, was 0.0036 +- 0.0046 with the largest contribution to the uncertainty coming from the statistical error. The cylindrically symmetric detector reduced the systematic error to a negligible level. From the two polarization measurements we can place a limit on lm Xi, where Xi is the ratio of form factors describing K/sub ..mu..3/ decay, of 0.018 +- 0.024.

• Research Organization: Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6146912
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

645102* -- High Energy Physics-- Particle Interactions & Properties-Experimental-- Weak Interactions & Properties
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
ANTILEPTONS
ANTIMATTER
ANTIPARTICLES
BNL
BOSONS
CP INVARIANCE
DATA
DECAY
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FERMIONS
FORM FACTORS
HADRONS
INFORMATION
INVARIANCE PRINCIPLES
KAONS
KAONS PLUS
LEPTONS
MASSLESS PARTICLES
MESONS
MUONS
MUONS PLUS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NEUTRINOS
NUMERICAL DATA
ORIENTATION
PARTICLE DECAY
PARTICLE PROPERTIES
PIONS
PIONS NEUTRAL
PSEUDOSCALAR MESONS
SPIN ORIENTATION
STRANGE PARTICLES
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
WEAK HADRONIC DECAY
WEAK PARTICLE DECAY