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This article describes the future P2 parity-violating electron scattering facility at the upcoming MESA accelerator in Mainz. The physics program of the facility comprises indirect, high precision search for physics beyond the Standard Model, measurement of the neutron distribution in nuclear physics, single-spin asymmetries stemming from two-photon exchange and a possible future extension to the measurement of hadronic parity violation. The first measurement of the P2 experiment aims for a high precision determination of the weak mixing angle to a precision of 0.14% at a four-momentum transfer of Q^2 = 4.5 10^{-3} GeV^2. The accuracy is comparable to existing measurements at the Z pole. It comprises a sensitive test of the standard model up to a mass scale of 50 TeV, extendable to 70 TeV. This requires a measurement of the parity violating cross section asymmetry -39.94 10^{-9} in the elastic electron-proton scattering with a total accuracy of 0.56 10^-9 (1.4 %) in 10,000 h of 150 micro A polarized electron beam impinging on a 60 cm liquid H_2 target allowing for an extraction of the weak charge of the proton which is directly connected to the weak mixing angle. Contributions from gamma Z-box graphs become small at the small beam energy of 155 MeV. The size of the asymmetry is the smallest asymmetry ever measured in electron scattering with an unprecedented goal for the accuracy. We report here on the conceptual design of the P2 spectrometer, its Cherenkov detectors, the integrating read-out electronics as well as the ultra-thin, fast tracking detectors. There has been substantial theory work done in preparation of the determination of the weak mixing angle. The further physics program in particle and nuclear physics is described as well.
The P2 experiment in Mainz aims to measure the weak mixing angle in electron- proton scattering to a precision of 0.13 %. In order to suppress uncertainties due to proton structure and contributions from box graphs, both a low average momentum transfer $Q^2$ of $4.5cdot 10^{-3}$ GeV$^2/c^2$ and a low beam energy of 155 MeV are chosen. In order to collect the enormous statistics required for this measurement, the new Mainz Energy Recovery Superconducting Accelerator (MESA) is being constructed. These proceedings describe the motivation for the measurement, the experimental and accelerator challenges and how we plan to tackle them.
Compton scattering from the proton was investigated at s=6.9 (GeV/c)**2 and t=-4.0 (GeV/c)**2 via polarization transfer from circularly polarized incident photons. The longitudinal and transverse components of the recoil proton polarization were measured. The results are in excellent agreement with a prediction based on a reaction mechanism in which the photon interacts with a single quark carrying the spin of the proton and in disagreement with a prediction of pQCD based on a two-gluon exchange mechanism.
Cross-section values for Compton scattering on the proton were measured at 25 kinematic settings over the range s = 5-11 and -t = 2-7 GeV2 with statistical accuracy of a few percent. The scaling power for the s-dependence of the cross section at fixed center of mass angle was found to be 8.0 +/ 0.2, strongly inconsistent with the prediction of perturbative QCD. The observed cross-section values are in fair agreement with the calculations using the handbag mechanism, in which the external photons couple to a single quark.
The physics case and an experimental overview of the MOLLER (Measurement Of a Lepton Lepton Electroweak Reaction) experiment at the 12 GeV upgraded Jefferson Lab are presented. A highlight of the Fundamental Symmetries subfield of the 2007 NSAC Long Range Plan was the SLAC E158 measurement of the parity-violating asymmetry $A_{PV}$ in polarized electron-electron (M{o}ller) scattering. The proposed MOLLER experiment will improve on this result by a factor of five, yielding the most precise measurement of the weak mixing angle at low or high energy anticipated over the next decade. This new result would be sensitive to the interference of the electromagnetic amplitude with new neutral current amplitudes as weak as $sim 10^{-3}cdot G_F$ from as yet undiscovered dynamics beyond the Standard Model. The resulting discovery reach is unmatched by any proposed experiment measuring a flavor- and CP-conserving process over the next decade, and yields a unique window to new physics at MeV and multi-TeV scales, complementary to direct searches at high energy colliders such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The experiment takes advantage of the unique opportunity provided by the upgraded electron beam energy, luminosity, and stability at Jefferson Laboratory and the extensive experience accumulated in the community after a round of recent successfully completed parity-violating electron scattering experiments
The P2 experiment aims at high-precision measurements of the parity-violating asymmetry in elastic electron-proton and electron-$^{12}$C scatterings with longitudinally polarized electrons. We discuss here the sensitivity of P2 to new physics mediated by an additional neutral gauge boson $Z$ of a new $U(1)$ gauge symmetry. If the charge assignment of the $U(1)$ is chiral, i.e., left- and right-handed fermions have different charges under $U(1)$, additional parity-violation is induced directly. On the other hand, if the $U(1)$ has a non-chiral charge assignment, additional parity-violation can be induced via mass or kinetic $Z$-$Z$ mixing. By comparing the P2 sensitivity to existing constraints, we show that in both cases P2 has discovery potential over a wide range of $Z$ mass. In particular, for chiral models, the P2 experiment can probe gauge couplings at the order of $10^{-5}$ when the $Z$ boson is light, and heavy $Z$ bosons up to 79 (90) TeV in the proton ($^{12}$C) mode. For non-chiral models with mass mixing, the P2 experiment is sensitive to mass mixing angles smaller than roughly $10^{-4}$, depending on model details and gauge coupling magnitude.