This thesis discusses two key topics: strangeness and charge symmetry violation (CSV) in the nucleon. It also provides a pedagogical introduction to chiral effective field theory tailored to the high-precision era of lattice quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Because the nucleon has zero net strangeness, strange observables give tremendous insight into the nature of the vacuum; they can only arise through quantum fluctuations in which strange–antistrange quark pairs are generated. As a result, the precise values of these quantities within QCD are important in physics arenas as diverse as precision tests of QCD, searches for physics beyond the Standard Model, and the interpretation of dark matter direct-detection experiments. Similarly, the precise knowledge of CSV observables has, with increasing experimental precision, become essential to the interpretation of many searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. In this thesis, the numerical lattice gauge theory approach to QCD is combined with the chiral perturbation theory formalism to determine strange and CSV quantities in a diverse range of observables including the octet baryon masses, sigma terms, electromagnetic form factors, and parton distribution functions. This thesis builds a comprehensive and coherent picture of the current status of understanding of strangeness and charge symmetry violation in the nucleon.

Dramatic progress has been made in all branches of physics since the National Research Council's 1986 decadal survey of the field. The Physics in a New Era series explores these advances and looks ahead to future goals. The series includes assessments of the major subfields and reports on several smaller subfields, and preparation has begun on an overview volume on the unity of physics, its relationships to other fields, and its contributions to national needs. Nuclear Physics is the latest volume of the series. The book describes current activity in understanding nuclear structure and symmetries, the behavior of matter at extreme densities, the role of nuclear physics in astrophysics and cosmology, and the instrumentation and facilities used by the field. It makes recommendations on the resources needed for experimental and theoretical advances in the coming decade.

This book shows the usefulness of the nucleus as a laboratory for learning about basic symmetries and fundamental interactions. It is aimed at advanced graduate students and beginning researchers, but should be useful to advanced researchers as well. Nuclear and particle physicists will find it particularly useful.

The G0 backward angle experiment, completed in Hall C of the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF), measured parity-violating asymmetries in elastic electron-proton and quasielastic electron-deuteron scattering at Q2 = 0.22 and 0.63 (GeV/c)2. The asymmetries are sensitive to strange quark contributions to currents in the nucleon and the nucleon axial-vector current. The results indicate strange quark contributions of lte 10% of the charge and magnetic nucleon form factors at these four-momentum transfers. This was also the first measurement of the anapole moment effects in the axial-vector current at these four-momentum transfers.

In order to remove a little of the mysticism surrounding the issue of strangeness in the nucleon, we present simple, physically transparent estimates of both the strange magnetic moment and charge radius of the proton. Although simple, the estimates are in quite good agreement with sophisticated calculations using the latest input from lattice QCD. We further explore the possible size of systematic uncertainties associated with charge symmetry violation (CSV) in the recent precise determination of the strange magnetic moment of the proton. We find that CSV acts to increase the error estimate by 0.003 mu{sub N} such that G{sub M}8=-0.046 " 0.022 mu{sub N}.

This book contains the proceedings of the third international workshop on From Parity Violation to Hadronic Structure and More. The many applications of parity violation are way beyond the scope of what Lee and Yang could have imagined fifty years after their proposal. For the physics topics discussed during this workshop, the application of parity violation has become a standard work horse allowing for the extraction of many physics topics in different experiments.