Mentor Connection 2007

UConn Mentor Connection 2007 brought Matt Harrigan and Lee Hyun Seok to Storrs to work with Prof. Richard Jones in the Nuclear Physics Laboratory. For their project, they chose to study how to measure the polarization of high-energy electrons using a laser beam. This technique will be used by the Qweak experiment at Jefferson Lab, which scatters polarized electrons from a proton target in order to measure the weak charge (Qweak) of the proton. As a part of their project, Matt and Lee studied how the weak force is described by the exchange of heavy bosons called W and Z particles, and how the weak nuclear force distinguishes between quarks and leptons of different helicity in a surprising physical effect called parity violation. They then studied how Compton scattering from a polarized laser beam can be used to measure the degree of polarization of the high-energy electron beam, which directly determines how much parity violation will actually be observed in a real experiment. At the end of the Mentor Connection experience, they presented what they learned in the form of a poster and an oral presentation.