Lee Roberts
Faculty
(Professor)
Office: Physics Research Building, Room 373
Phone: 617-353-2187
Lab: Physics Research Building, Room 270
Phone: 617-353-9453
Off-Site: Brookhaven National Laboratory, Room , Building 510
Phone: 631-344-2287
Email: roberts@bu.edu
Website: http://g2pc1.bu.edu/~roberts
Research Interests:
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. We measured the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon to a relative precision of 0.5 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. We are trying to get funding to increase the precision of our measurements, in order to confirm whether there is such a discrepancy. For the past several years I have worked with my colleagues Miller and Carey on an experiment at the Paul Scherrer Institut to measure the muon lifetime, and thereby the Fermi constant for muon capture. Prof. Miller and I are now working on a new experiment to search for a permanent electric dipole moment (EDM) of the neutron that is being mounted at the Spallation Neutron Source in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Since an EDM is forbidden by both parity and time-reversal symmetries, the observation of one would be a clear signal of new physics beyond the standard model.
For more information, please go to my research website
Education:
B.S. in Physics, 1968 University of Virginia, M.S. 1970 College of William and Mary, Ph.D. 1974 College of William and Mary