| The anomalous magnetic moment of the positive muon has been measured to a precision of 0.7 parts per million in an experiment at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The standard model prediction for this quantity can be calculated with a similar uncertainty, although there are currently inconsistent results for one crucial part of this evaluation. Comparison of the theoretical and experimental values tests the standard model and probes for physics beyond it, including supersymmetry, for which a large signal is expected from many models. This thesis describes the principle of the experiment and the status of the theoretical evaluations. It concentrates on the details of an energy-binned method of determining the anomalous precession frequency from the recorded data. The result that is obtained, after combination with previous measurements, is aexp;avgm=11659203 8×10-10, to be compared with the present standard model predictions aSM;e+e-m =11659168.87.7×10 -10and aSM;tm=11659193.2 6.8×10-10. which correspond to differences of 3.1 or 1.0 standard deviations, respectively. The implications of this result therefore await the resolution of the theoretical debate. |
