Physics (Internal)
Office Hours: By appointment
Research Interests:
Properties of Subatomic Particles
Much of my research career has been centered on properties of subatomic particles, their interactions and the fundamental symmetries which govern these interactions. From 1989 until its completion in 2004 I served as Co-Spokesman for the muon (g-2) experiment at Brookhaven National Laboratory (E821). We measured the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon to a relative precision of 0.54 ppm (parts per million). At present there is a 3.4 standard-deviation difference between the experimental value and the standard-model value, which could be an indication of new physics such as supersymmetry. I co-founded a new experiment at Fermilab E989, and served as Co-Spokesperson from 2011 until September 2017. E989 will increase the precision to 0.14 ppm in order to definitively determine whether there is such a discrepancy. The superconducting storage ring was moved from Brookhaven to Fermilab and is now installed in a new building and fully operational. Two data sets have been collected and are being analyzed. The third data collection period began in November 2019. I am also a member of the Mu2e Collaboration that Professor Miller is leading. For more information, please go to my research website.
Selected Publications:
“The Muon (g 2) Theory Value: Present and Future” T. Blum, A. Denig, I. Logashenko, E. de Rafael, B.L. Roberts, T. Teubner and G. Venanzoni, arXiv:1311.2198v1 [hep-ph] 9 Nov 2013
“Physics at a future Neutrino Factory and super-beam facility”, A. Bandyopandhyay, et al. (The ISS Physics Working Group) Editors: S.F. King, K. Long, Y. Nagashima, B.L. Roberts and O. Yasuda, Rep. Prog. Phys. 72 (2009) 106201 (185pp),
“Muon (g 2): experiment and theory”, James P. Miller, Eduardo de Rafael and B. Lee Roberts, Rept. Prog. Phys. 70, 795-881, 2007
“Final Report of the Muon E821 Anomalous Magnetic Moment Measurement at BNL”, G. Bennett, et al., (Muon (g 2) Collaboration), Phys. Rev. D 73, 072003 (2006)
“First Direct Observation of Time Reversal Noninvariance in the Neutral Kaon System”, A. Angelopoulos et al., (CPLEAR Collaboration), Phys. Lett. B 444 43 (1998)
For a full list of publications, please see the attached CV.
Education:
- B.S. in Physics, University of Virginia,
- M.S. College of William and Mary
- Ph.D. College of William and Mary
Honors/Awards:
- Fellow, American Physical Society
In the news:
Research Descriptions:
Muon (g-2) project at Fermilab
This experiment will upgrade of BNL E821. Boston University physicists are playing a leading role. The goal is a factor of four improvement on the precision on the muon anomalous magnetic moment, which will require 21 times the data, approximately 200 million analyzed events, and a factor of three improvement in the systematic errors. The goal is to clarify whether the evidence obtained at Brookhaven is a signal of New Physics entering at the loop level, or a statistical fluctuation.
.Neutrinoless Muon to Electron Conversion
The goal of the Mu2e experiment (pronounced 'mew to ee') is to measure the rate of a muon converting into an electron with no accompanying neutrinos to a precision 10000 times better than previous experiments. Such a violation of charged lepton flavor conservation has never been seen by charged leptons such as muons and electrons. It has already been seen for neutral leptons, neutrinos, in the form of neutrino oscillations. A positive signal is a sure sign of new physics. Mu2e is one of the flagship experiments in the future Fermilab program. The Mu2e experiment is now under construction in the new building at Fermilab on the Muon Campus.