Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-2019

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Physics

Major Professor

Nadia Fomin

Committee Members

Geoffrey Greene, Soren Sorensen, Maik Lang, Thomas Papenbrock

Abstract

The Standard Model (SM) is one of the most complete theories of fundamental particle physics. Despite its wide success, there are still mechanisms for which the SM does not account. Neutrino flavor oscillations, the observed baryon asymmetry, and the dark matter puzzle make it clear that there must exist a sector of physics which is beyond the standard model (BSM). As such, a plethora of BSM extensions have been proposed, necessitating experiments with the ability to validate or set limits upon these extensions. Beta decay spectrum shape measurements provide the ability to probe possible scalar and tensor current interactions not included in the SM. The Nab experiment and a related \calcium ~beta spectrum measurement aim to measure the Fierz interference term `b', which is a purely BSM decay correlation parameter. The following will discuss some aspects of the Nab experiment as well as the current limits placed on `b' by the aforementioned \calcium ~beta spectrum measurement.

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