Measuring Parity Violation in Cobalt-60 Decay

dc.contributor.author	Lashomb, Paul
dc.date.accessioned	2015-11-12T18:50:15Z
dc.date.available	2015-11-12T18:50:15Z
dc.date.issued	2015-11-12
dc.description.abstract	An experiment was performed to measure parity violation in the decay of 60Co. Measurements of the correlation between the circular polarization of ?-rays and ?-particles were made by measuring the circular polarization of the decay ?-ray emitted at 180° from the correlated ?-particle. A ?-? coincidence circuit counted gamma rays transmitted through a magnetized iron core. Since the Compton scattering cross-section for circularly polarized ?-rays depends on the spin orientation of the electrons in the magnet, an asymmetry in the count rate when the electron and photon spins are parallel and anti-parallel indicates parity violation. While only initial measurements have been made to date, in the future it should be possible to measure the asymmetry to within approximately 5%.
dc.identifier.uri	https://dspace.houghton.edu/handle/hc/3731
dc.publisher	Houghton College
dc.rights	Authors retain the copyright for all content posted in this repository. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed beyond the Houghton College community without permission except in accordance with fair use doctrine.
dc.subject	Student Projects
dc.title	Measuring Parity Violation in Cobalt-60 Decay

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