Study of parity and time‐reversal violation in neutron‐nucleus interactions

The parity and time‐reversal symmetries can be studied in neutron‐nucleus interactions. Parity non‐conserving asymmetries have been observed for many p‐wave resonances in a compound nucleus and measurements were performed on several nuclei in the mass region of A∼100 and A∼230. The statistical model of the compound nucleus provides a theoretical basis for extracting mean‐squared matrix elements from the experimental asymmetry data, and for interpreting the mean‐squared matrix elements. The constraints on the weak meson‐exchange couplings calculated from the compound‐nucleus asymmetry data agree qualitatively with the results from few‐body and light‐nuclei experiments. The tests of time‐reversal invariance in various experiments using thermal, epithermal, and MeV neutrons are being developed