Current Projects

Our group is currently involved in a research program using muons to improve the accuracy of the coupling strengths of two basic weak interactions. The first experiment, MuLAN, is designed to improve the precision of the muon lifetime by a factor of ten which according to the most recent theoretical studies will enable a clean extraction of the Fermi electro-weak coupling constant, GF to ~1 ppm. The second experiment, MuCAP, is a precision measurement of the simplest muon capture process, that of the muon on the proton from the singlet 1s state of the muonic hydrogen atom. This measurement has not been improved in nearly 30 years because of systematic errors due to other capture reactions which were poorly understood. These complications are all addressed by the novel techniques of the new experiment based on a pure hydrogen TPC. We expect to improve the accuracy by a factor 4-5 of the induced pseudoscalar coupling constant, gP. The experimental group is part of an international collaboration working at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland.