Parity nonconservation in elastic p alpha scattering and the determination of the weak meson-nucleon coupling constants.

Abstract

Parity nonconservation has been studied in elastic $p\ensuremath{\alpha}$ scattering at 46 MeV with longitudinally polarized protons. The longitudinal analyzing power averaged over the range of laboratory scattering angles of roughly 30\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} to 60\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} is found to be ${A}_{z}=(\ensuremath{-}3.3\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.9)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}7}$. This result and measurements in other light nuclear systems are used to determine weak meson-nucleon coupling constants.