G-Zero Experiment Discovers That Strange Quark Influences Proton

A team of University of Maryland physicists and their colleagues on the G-Zero experiment have discovered that the “strange” quark does contribute to a combination of the charge and the magnetism of a proton, the positively charged subatomic particle. Understanding the makeup of atomic nuclei from subatomic particles like these quarks is a key step to gaining a better understanding of the fundamental nature of our universe.

The Maryland group of nuclear physicsists working on this important experiment includes Professors Elizabeth Beise and Philip Roos (deputy spokesperson for G-Zero), Dr. Herbert Breuer and Jianglai Liu, one of five students who will receive a Ph.D. working on the experiment's analysis.

Located at the Department of Energy's Jefferson Laboratory, G-Zero is a multi-year experimental program that uses the weak interaction to study the strange quark in the proton. The next phase of the experiment, expected to complete data taking by May 2006, will be to separate the quark's contribution to the charge and the quark's contribution to the magnetism of the proton.

For more details about the experiment, please click here for the Jefferson Laboratory news release.