Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-particle-physics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2016/2/1/solution

An observable that reverses sign under parity but has a nonzero expectation in a suitably prepared experiment tests parity violation. A polar momentum reverses, whereas an axial spin angular momentum does not. Thus and helicity are parity-odd; an apparatus asymmetry must be separated from a physical asymmetry by reversing the preparation or analyser.
In the Wu experiment, polarized cobalt-60 nuclei preferentially emit beta decay electrons in one direction relative to the nuclear spin angular momentum. The distribution contains ; its sign changes under spatial inversion. Reversing the nuclear polarization reverses the observed asymmetry.[ref]
In the Goldhaber experiment, the sign of the circular polarization of selected gamma rays determines the sign of the neutrino helicity. A preference for negative helicity is parity-odd because spatial inversion would produce the positive-helicity state. This provides a different experimental observable from the electron angular distribution.

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