Possibility to investigate P-parity violation in nuclear collisions at facility NICA

TL;DR

This paper discusses potential experimental setups at NICA to investigate P-parity violation in nuclear collisions by measuring spin-dependent cross sections of polarized proton or deuteron beams interacting with unpolarized targets.

Contribution

It proposes novel experimental configurations at NICA to detect P-parity violation effects through spin correlation measurements in polarized nuclear collisions.

Findings

Feasibility of measuring P-parity violation at NICA

Design of spin precession and detection methods

Potential to observe parity violation effects

Abstract

A possible experimental setup for measuring the effect of parity violation in the interaction of the polarized proton or deuteron beams with an unpolarized target is discussed. One possibility is investigation of scattering of the proton or deuteron polarized beams on a thick internal target in one of the rings of the NICA collider. In this case, the spin of a circulating particles is transformed into a mode precessing in the horizontal plane using an RF flipper. The effect of parity violation will be studied by measuring the correlation of the interaction cross section of particles and the direction of their spins. In an alternative approach, the flipper transforms the spins of particles into a horizontal plane and the beam is extracted into the channel in a certain phase of the precession. In this more traditional experimental setup, the total cross section of the passage of particles through a dense target is measured, depending on the sign of the helicity of the polarization of the beam.