Measurement of the Rate of Muon Capture in Hydrogen Gas and Determination of the Proton's Pseudoscalar Coupling

157 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007.The MuCap experiment, the data analysis leading to the result for Lambda S, and contextual information are described in this dissertation. In the first chapter, a brief historical review of previous measurements of muon capture on the proton introduces many of the experimental challenges. The next chapter covers the standard-model phenomenological calculation of Lambda S and knowledge of the proton's weak form factors, and results of modern calculations using chiral perturbation theory are quoted. The subject of union atomic and molecular kinetics in hydrogen, important for understanding many of the key features the experiment, is discussed in Chapter 3. The MuCap experimental design and apparatus are presented with selected details in Chapter 4. The next two chapters cover data analysis, evaluations of systematic corrections and uncertainties, and demonstrations of internal consistency of the Lambda S result with variations of analysis parameters. The dissertation concludes with a results chapter, in which the method used to determine gP from the experimental result for Lambda S is shown.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD