A Search for Lepton Flavor Violation in the MECO Muon-Electron Conversion Experiment

College Of William And Mary, Williamsburg VA

Investigators

Abstract

This proposal requests support for a group at the College of William and Mary to participate in the MECO experiment currently being planned to run at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The MECO experiment, testing lepton-flavor violation scenarios beyond the Standard Model, will be sensitive to direct muon-to-electron conversion at a branching ratio below 10-16, four orders of magnitude more sensitive than previously achieved. The William and Mary group is specifically responsible for the design, fabrication, testing, and installation of an active cosmic-ray shield that is to surround the detector solenoid. A double layer scintillator veto shield assures that cosmic-ray induced background events which may imitate true muon-to-electron conversion events are kept at levels well below the projected sensitivity of the experiment. Both during the R&D phase and the assembly phase many opportunities will develop for engaging the research talents of postdocs, graduate students and undergraduates who will work professionally towards a rewarding and challenging scientific objective while learning important skills and techniques.