The final measurements of the muon decay parameters from the TWIST experiment

Abstract

The TWIST (TRIUMF Weak Interaction Symmetry Test) experiment probes the Lorentz structure of the weak interaction using muon decay. This structure has a very well defined form under the Standard Model (SM) which makes precise predictions for the shape of the decay positron spectrum with respect to momentum and angle. The shape of the spectrum may be described under some rather general assumptions using a set of decay parameters whose values according to the SM are ρ = δ = 3/4, η = 0, and ξ = 1. TWIST uses a large sample of muon decays in a large acceptance spectrometer to measure the decay parameters to an order of magnitude greater precision than previous measurements. This experiment saw its last year of data collection in 2007. As TWIST is a systematics dominated experiment, much effort has been spent on refinements of the estimates of the systematic uncertainties over previous TWIST results. These proceedings will discuss the measures taken to achieve the precision goal of parts in 104, and the physics implications of the experiment.