Boston U. Colloquium

[Ed Kearns <kearns budoe bu edu>]

Tuesday, January 13, 2003 3:30 p.m.
Boston University
Physics Department Colloquium
Metcalf Science Center, (590 Commonwealth Ave.), Room 107
"Muon (g-2): The Latest Word"
B. Lee Roberts
Boston University
Refreshments will be served at 3:15 p.m.
Please call (353-2600) one day in advance for parking.

Abstract: Since the experiments of Stern and Gerlach, magnetic moments
of "elementary" particles have been important in our quest to
understand subatomic physics. A brief review of the history and
foundations of this field will be given as an introduction to the muon
g-2 experiment, E821, at the Brookhaven National Laboratory
Alternating Gradient Synchrotron.  E821 has been underway since the
mid 1980s, and a total of about nine billion events were accumulated
during three data collection periods.  The experiment has reached a
relative precision of about five parts in ten million, a factor of
fourteen more precise than the famous CERN experiment of the 1970s. On
January 8th the final result will be announced.  The physics context
of this measurement, the experimental technique, and the analysis
leading to this new result will be presented.