Progress report on the Bates parity experiment

We are performing an experiment at the MIT Bates Linear Accelerator Center to measure the parity‐violating asymmetry in the elastic scattering of polarized electrons from carbon. The asymmetry, which is due to the isoscalar piece of the neutral weak current, is predicted to be about one part per million for our experimental conditions. We have recently obtained preliminary data with polarized electrons. This paper discusses the status of the experiment, with emphasis on our understanding of the most important systematic errors.