Speaker
Description
Neutron beta decay is a fundamental nuclear process that provides a means
to perform precision measurements that test the limits of our present under-
standing of the weak interaction described by the Standard Model of particle
physics and puts constraints on physics beyond the Standard Model. The Nab
experiment will measure ‘a’, the electron-neutrino angular correlation parameter,
to a precision of δa/a ∼ 10−3 and ‘b’, the Fierz interference term, to a precision
of δb = 3 · 10−3. The Nab experiment implements large area segmented silicon
detectors to measure the proton momentum and the electron energy to reconstruct
a and b. The Nab silicon detectors were being characterized with protons and
electron sources prior to installation into the Nab experiment at the SNS at
ORNL. This talk will present an overview and status of the Nab experiment
and focus on preliminary measurements of the electronic response of the Nab
detector pixels and the reconstructed energies of the incident radiation using
proton and electron sources under various experimental conditions performed
at the University of Manitoba. The reconstructed proton energy was measured
while varying the detector temperature, the observed pixel location, the detec-
tor bias voltage, and the proton accelerating potential, respectively. The proton
rates in neighbouring detector pixels, during an incremental deflection of the
proton beam across the pixel boundary, were also measured.
| Keyword-1 | Precision Measurements |
|---|---|
| Keyword-2 | Neutron Beta Decay |
| Keyword-3 | 30 keV Proton Source |
