Probing Novel Properties of Nucleons and Nuclei via Parity Violating Electron Scattering

This thesis reports on two experiments conducted by the HAPPEx (Hall A Proton Parity Experiment) collaboration at the Thomas Je#11;erson National Accelerator Facil- ity. For both, the weak neutral current interaction (WNC, mediated by the Z{sup 0} boson) is used to probe novel properties of hadronic targets. The WNC interaction amplitude is extracted by measuring the parity-violating asymmetry in the elastic scattering of longitudinally polarized electrons o#11; unpolarized target hadrons. HAPPEx-III, con- ducted in the Fall of 2009, used a liquid hydrogen target at a momentum transfer of Q{sup 2} = 0.62 GeV{sup 2}. The measured asymmetry was used to set new constraints on the contribution of strange quark form factors (G{sup s}{sub E,M} ) to the nucleon electromagnetic form factors. A value of A{sub PV} = -23.803{+-}#6; 0.778 (stat){+-}#6; 0.359 (syst) ppm resulted in G{sup s}{sub E} + 0:517G{sup s}{sub M} = 0.003{+-} 0.010 (stat){+-} #6;0.004 (syst){+-}#6; #6;0.009 (FF). PREx, conducted in the Spring of 2010, used a polarized electron beam on a 208Pb target at a momentum transfer of Q{sup 2} = 0.009 GeV{sup 2}. This parity-violating asymmetry can be used to obtain a clean measurement of the root-mean-square radius of the neutrons in the {sup 208}Pb nucleus. The Z{sup 0} boson couples mainly to neutrons; the neutron weak charge is much larger than that of the proton. The value of this asymmetry is at the sub-ppm level and has a projected experimental fractional precision of 3%. We will describe the accelerator setup used to set controls on helicity-correlated beam asymmetries and the analysis methods for #12;nding the raw asymmetry for HAPPEx-III. We will also discuss in some detail the preparations to meet the ex- perimental challenges associated with measuring such a small asymmetry with the degree of precision required for PREx