Measurement of the polarization of positive muons produced in high-energy antineutrino interactions

The question whether scalar-type interactions contribute to weak interactions at large momentum transfer has been investigated by a measurement of the longitudinal polarization of positive muons produced in charged-current interactions of high-energy antineutrinos with iron. At an average momentum transfer =4 GeV2 the muon spin is found to be oriented forward with respect to the muon momentum vector, with an average polarization of 1.10±0.24, consistent with positive helicity. A limit on scalar contributions of σs, p/σtot <7% at the 95% confidence level can be deduced. A search for violation of time reversal invariance which could manifest itself by a polarization component perpendicular to the muon production plane gave a limit of σtv/σtot <16% (95% c.l.). It is concluded that the weak leptonic charged current retains its dominant vector and axial vector structure at large momentum transfers.