202 FRIB Graduate Brochure
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Oscar Naviliat<br />
Professor of Physics<br />
Keywords: Mirror Symmetries, Weak Interaction (Parity Violation and Time<br />
Reversal Invariance)<br />
Experimental Nuclear Physics<br />
About<br />
• PhD Nuclear Physics, Cath. University of Louvain<br />
(1989)<br />
• Joined the laboratory in August 2010<br />
• naviliat@frib.msu.edu<br />
Research<br />
The experimental tests of the foundations of physical theories<br />
is a cross-disciplinary domain that can hardly be grabbed<br />
by any particular subfield of physics. The measurements<br />
carried out for such tests are performed using particles,<br />
nuclei, atoms, molecules or crystals, and concern the<br />
specific subfields within the experimental techniques<br />
being used.<br />
My research activities have been focused on experimental<br />
tests of discrete symmetries in the weak interaction (parity<br />
violation and time reversal invariance) and in the searches<br />
for new interactions through precision measurements using<br />
muons, neutrons, and nuclei, which in most cases were<br />
spin polarized. Some measurements also required the use<br />
traps, such as material-, electromagnetic-, or magnetogravitational<br />
traps, for the confinement of particles. Precision<br />
measurements at low energies are considered an alternative<br />
route in the search for new particles and interactions as<br />
compared to that pursued at the highest possible energies, in<br />
collider experiments. In general, the principles of experiments<br />
at low energies are rather simple, but the measurements are<br />
difficult and challenging. The design of new experiments<br />
requires implementing modern techniques in order to reach<br />
new levels of sensitivity.<br />
Atomic nuclei offer a very rich spectrum of candidates for<br />
precision measurements at low energies due to the large<br />
number of isotopes, the diversity of states, and the different<br />
decay modes involving the fundamental interactions. The<br />
abundant production of rare isotopes opens further the<br />
spectrum for the design of new sensitive experiments.<br />
My current activities at <strong>FRIB</strong> concern beta decay experiments<br />
using either fast or stopped beams. Fast and clean beams<br />
have made possible measurement of the energy spectra<br />
of beta particles without instrumental effects which were<br />
present in past measurements. This enables the search<br />
for possible contributions of tensor type interactions in<br />
Gamow-Teller transitions as a signature of physics beyond<br />
the standard model. Another project is the measurement<br />
of polarization correlations in beta decay, using low energy<br />
polarized nuclei, to search for deviations from maximal parity<br />
violation. This requires the construction of a new polarimeter<br />
for positrons that will be used with beams polarized by laser<br />
optical pumping.<br />
The intellectual creativity in the design of experiments, and<br />
in particular those addressing the foundations of physical<br />
theories, has been fascinating to me.<br />
Selected Publications<br />
Prospects for Precision Measurements in Nuclear b Decay<br />
in the LHC era O. Naviliat-Cuncic and M. Gonzalez-Alonso,<br />
Ann. Phys. (Berlin) 525, 600 (2013)<br />
Symmetry Tests in Nuclear Beta Decay N. Severijns and<br />
O. Naviliat-Cuncic, Annu. Rev. Nucl. Part. Sci. 61, 23 (2011)<br />
Test of the Conserved Vector Current Hypothesis in<br />
T=1/2 Mirror Transitions and New Determination of |Vud|<br />
O. Naviliat-Cuncic and N. Severijns, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102,<br />
142302 (2009)<br />
The test of parity (mirror symmetry) in nuclear beta<br />
decay provides a window to search for new interactions,<br />
like those which could be mediated by right-handed<br />
vector bosons.<br />
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