NSF EPSCoR: Parity Violation in Low Energy Neutron Transmission through Lanthanum

We propose to send two undergraduate students, Cierra Waller (UK) and Daniela Olivera (Berea) to Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), New Mexico to perform a nuclear physics measurement of the Parity Violating asymmetry of low energy transmission through a pair of Lanthanum nuclear targets separated by a radio frequency neutron spin rotator. The students will be supervised by the PI and graduate student Danielle Schaper, and work closely with laboratory scientists and faculty from US and Japanese universities at LANL. This experiment is part of a test measurement that is leading up towards a measurement of time reversal symmetry in the transmission of low energy neutrons, the NOPTREX experiment, which has profound implications the dominance of matter over antimatter in the universe. The broader impact of this proposal is two-fold: the training of two undergraduates in highly technical skills, preparing them for graduate work in nuclear physics, and also a public outreach of science for children, involving the undergraduates.