The electroweak standard model describes two of the four fundamental forces present in the universe. By conducting experiments that probe with increasing sensitivity phenomena that can be described with this model, it is hoped discrepancies will appear that will lead to a more complete understanding of the weak interaction which is responsible for the decay, or transformation, of the neutron into a proton, electron and antineutrino. Among the measurements that can be made involving neutron decay are correlations between the properties of the neutron and its decay products. One of these correlations, known as little "a", involves the direction of emission of the electron and antineutrino from the decay region. Other neutron decay correlations are known to within 1%, but little "a" is only known to 4%. After several years of planning and construction, the aCORN ("a" CORrelation in Neutron decay) collaboration is in the process of collecting data on the fundamental physics beamline at the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) Center for Neutron Research (NCNR). This grant will provide support that will allow DePauw University undergraduate students and the Principal Investigator to continue participating in the experiment.
