Some 34 members of the Qweak collaboration from all over North America, including Canadian members from TRIUMF, the University of Northern British Columbia, the University of Manitoba and the University of Winnipeg, met at TRIUMF from July 23rd to the 25th. They discussed preparations for the high-profile Qweak experiment to be executed at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News, Virginia.
The experiment, scheduled to start in 2009, will measure the weak charge of the proton (analogous to the electric charge of the proton in the case of the electro-magnetic interaction) with high precision. The Standard Model of quarks and leptons makes a definite prediction for the weak charge of the proton. Thus the result of the experiment will either confirm the Standard Model or point to new physics.