Experiments on parity violation in the compound nucleus

Results from experiments that measure parity-violating longitudinal asymmetries in the scattering of epithermal neutrons from compound-nuclear resonances at the Manuel Lujan Neutron Scattering Center at Los Alamos are discussed. Parity non-conserving asymmetries have been observed for many p-wave resonances in a single target. Measurements were performed on several nuclei in the mass region of A-100 and A-230. The statistical model of the compound nucleus provides a theoretical basis for extracting mean-squared matrix elements from the experimental asymmetry data, and for interpreting the mean-squared matrix elements. The constraints on the weak meson-exchange couplings calculated from the compound-nucleus asymmetry data agree qualitatively with the results from few-body and light-nuclei experiments. For all nuclei but {sup 232}Th measured asymmetries have random signs. For {sup 232}Th eight of eight measured asymmetries are positive. This phenomenon is discussed in terms or doorway models