Speaker
Prof.
Liping Gan
(University of North Carolina Wilmington)
Description
Light neutral meson decays provide a unique laboratory to test fundamental symmetries in physics. A comprehensive Primakoff experimental program at Jefferson Laboratory (JLab) is aimed at gathering high precision measurements on the two-photon decay widths and the transition form factors at low four-momentum transfer squares for $\pi^0$, $\eta$ and $\eta^{\prime}$ via the Primakoff effect. The results of these measurements will offer stringent tests on the chiral anomaly and provide sensitive probe for the origin and dynamics of chiral symmetry breaking in the confinement QCD. In addition, the JLab Eta Factory (JEF) experiment has been recently developed to measure various $\eta$ decays with emphasis on rare neutral modes. It will have a factor of two orders of magnitude reduction in backgrounds compared to all other existing or planned experiments in the world. Such low background data will serve as important hadronic probes for weakly-coupled new forces, such as a dark force via a leptophobic dark $V_B$-boson or a new C-violating, P-conserving force. The status of these experimental activities and their physics impacts will be discussed.
Primary author
Prof.
Liping Gan
(University of North Carolina Wilmington)
