Ja n 19 97 Symmetry Tests of the Electroweak Interaction from Muon Capture on 3 He Jan Govaerts

Precision measurements in muon capture on 3He to the triton channel provide for interesting tests of the charged electroweak interaction, whether within the Standard Model or beyond it. Based on the statistical capture rate and the triton asymmetry, both the object of recent and on-going experiments using polarised 3He targets, examples of such tests are presented, and shown to lead to stringent complementary constraints for which further dedicated experimental as well as theoretical efforts are required. PACS: 11.40.Ha, 12., 23.40.-s Invited contribution to the 7th RCNP International Workshop HELION97: from Quark to Life Polarized 3He Beams and Gas Targets and Their Applications Kobe, Japan, January 20–24, 1997 Preprint submitted to Elsevier Preprint 1 February 2008 UCL-IPN-97-P01 January 1997