Parity violation in charged-particle resonance reactions.

Abstract

Parity nonconservation (PNC) measurements utilizing charged-particle resonance reactions are proposed. PNC observables have been calculated for over 300 resonance pairs (with the same angular momentum and opposite parity) in five {ital s}-{ital d} shell nuclei. Detailed numerical results are presented for the longitudinal analyzing powers in the {sup 31}P({ital p}{searrow},{alpha}{sub 0}) reaction. There is strong dependence on energy, angle, and resonance parameters. A figure of merit that includes both the relative enhancement of the parity violation and the cross section is used to identify the most promising resonances for study. A proposed detector design and experimental procedure are described. These measurements should provide information on the weak spreading width (the effective nucleon-nucleus weak interaction) in light nuclei. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}