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We report a precision measurement of the parity-violating asymmetry APV in the elastic scattering of longitudinally polarized electrons from 208Pb. We measure APV=550±16(stat)±8(syst) parts per billion, leading to an extraction of the neutral weak form factor FW(Q2=0.00616  GeV2)=0.368±0.013. Combined with our previous measurement, the extracted neutron skin thickness is Rn−Rp=0.283±0.071  fm. The result also yields the first significant direct measurement of the interior weak density of 208Pb: ρ0W=−0.0796±0.0036(exp)±0.0013(theo)  fm−3 leading to the interior baryon density ρ0b=0.1480±0.0036(exp)±0.0013(theo)  fm−3. The measurement accurately constrains the density dependence of the symmetry energy of nuclear matter near saturation density, with implications for the size and composition of neutron stars. 

Neutron beta decay is one of the most fundamental processes in nuclear physics and provides sensitive means to uncover the details of the weak interaction. Neutron beta decay can evaluate the ratio of axial-vector to vector coupling constants in the standard model, λ = g A / g V , through multiple decay correlations. The Nab experiment will carry out measurements of the electron-neutrino correlation parameter a with a precision of δ a / a = 10 −3 and the Fierz interference term b to δ b = 3 × 10 −3 in unpolarized free neutron beta decay. These results, along with a more precise measurement of the neutron lifetime, aim to deliver an independent determination of the ratio λ with a precision of δλ/λ = 0.03% that will allow an evaluation of V ud and sensitively test CKM unitarity, independent of nuclear models. Nab utilizes a novel, long asymmetric spectrometer that guides the decay electron and proton to two large area silicon detectors in order to precisely determine the electron energy and an estimation of the proton momentum from the proton time of flight. The Nab spectrometer is being commissioned at the Fundamental Neutron Physics Beamline at the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Lab. We present an overview of the Nab experiment and recent updates on the spectrometer, analysis, and systematic effects.