Observation of a large parity nonconserving analyzing power in Xe

J J. Szymanski, Indiana University - Bloomington
W M. Snow, Indiana University - Bloomington
J D. Bowman, Los Alamos National Laboratory
B Cain, Indiana University - Bloomington
Bret E. Crawford, Gettysburg College
P P J. Delheij, TRIUMF
R D. Hartman, Indiana University - Bloomington
T Haseyama, Kyoto University
C D. Keith, Indiana University - Bloomington
J N. Knudsen, Los Alamos National Laboratory
A Komives, Indiana University - Bloomington
M Leuschner, Indiana University - Bloomington
L Y. Lowie, North Carolina State University
A Masaike, Kyoto University
Y Matsuda, Kyoto University
G E. Mitchell, North Carolina State University
S I. Penttila, Los Alamos National Laboratory
H Postma, Delft University of Technology
D Rich, Indiana University - Bloomington
N R. Roberson, Duke University
S J. Seestrom, Los Alamos National Laboratory
E I. Sharapov, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research
Sharon L. Stephenson, Gettysburg College
Y-F Yen, Los Alamos National Laboratory
V W. Yuan, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Copyright held by American Physical Society. First published as JJ Szymanski et al, Observation of a large parity nonconserving analyzing power in Xe, Physical Review C, 53:6, R2576–R2580, doi: 10.1103/PhysRevC.53.R2576.

Abstract

A large parity nonconserving longitudinal analyzing power was discovered in polarized-neutron transmission through Xe. An analyzing power of 4.3±0.2% was observed in a p-wave resonance at E_n=3.2 eV. The measurement was performed with a liquid Xe target of natural isotopic abundance that was placed in the polarized epithermal neutron beam, flight path 2, at the Manuel Lujan Neutron Science Center. This apparatus was constructed by the TRIPLE Collaboration, and has been used for studies of parity symmetry in compound nuclear resonances. Part of the motivation of the experiment was to discover a nucleus appropriate for a sensitive test of time-reversal invariance in polarized-neutron transmission. The large analyzing power of the observed resonance may make it possible to design a test of time reversal invariance using a polarized-Xe target.