New Precision Limit on the Strange Vector Form Factors of the Proton

The parity-violating cross-section asymmetry in the elastic scattering of polarized electrons from unpolarized protons has been measured at a four-momentum transfer squared Q(2) = 0.624 GeV2 and beam energy E-b = 3.48 GeV to be A(PV) = -23.80 +/- 0.78(stat) +/- 0.36(syst) parts per million. This result is consistent with zero contribution of strange quarks to the combination of electric and magnetic form factors G(E)(s) + 0.517G(M)(s) = 0.003 +/- 0.010(stat) +/- 0.004(syst) +/- 0.009(ff), where the third error is due to the limits of precision on the electromagnetic form factors and radiative corrections. With this measurement, the world data on strange contributions to nucleon form factors are seen to be consistent with zero and not more than a few percent of the proton form factors

Double Spin Asymmetries of Inclusive Hadron Electroproduction From a Transversely Polarized He-3 Target

We report the measurement of beam-target double spin asymmetries (ALT) in the inclusive production of identified hadrons, →e + 3He↑ → h + X, using a longitudinally polarized 5.9-GeV electron beam and a transversely polarized 3He target. Hadrons (π±, K±, and proton) were detected at 16 ° with an average momentum ( Ph ) = 2.35 GeV/c and a transverse momentum (pT) coverage from 0.60 to 0.68 GeV/c. Asymmetries from the He-3 target were observed to be nonzero for π± production when the target was polarized transversely in the horizontal plane. The π+ and π- asymmetries have opposite signs, analogous to the behavior of ALT in semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering

Measurement of Parity-Violating Asymmetry in Electron-Deuteron Inelastic Scattering

The parity-violating asymmetries between a longitudinally polarized electron beam and an unpolarized deuterium target have been measured recently. The measurement covered two kinematic points in the deep-inelastic scattering region and five in the nucleon resonance region. We provide here details of the experimental setup, data analysis, and results on all asymmetry measurements including parity-violating electron asymmetries and those of inclusive pion production and beam-normal asymmetries. The parity-violating deep-inelastic asymmetries were used to extract the electron-quark weak effective couplings, and the resonance asymmetries provided the first evidence for quark-hadron duality in electroweak observables. These electron asymmetries and their interpretation were published earlier, but are presented here in more detail

Measurement of Pretzelosity Asymmetry of Charged Pion Production in Semi-Inclusive Deep Inelastic Scattering on a Polarized ³He Target

An experiment to measure single-spin asymmetries of semi-inclusive production of charged pions in deep-inelastic scattering on a transversely polarized 3He target was performed at Jefferson Laboratory in the kinematic region of 0.16 \u3c x \u3c 0.35 and 1.4 \u3c Q2 \u3c 2.7 GeV2. Pretzelosity asymmetries on 3He, which are expressed as the convolution of the h┴1T transverse-momentum-dependent distribution functions and the Collins fragmentation functions in the leading order, were measured for the first time. Under the effective polarization approximation, we extracted the corresponding neutron asymmetries from the measured 3He asymmetries and cross-section ratios between the proton and 3He. Our results show that both pi± on 3He and on neutron pretzelosity asymmetries are consistent with zero within experimental uncertainties

Hard Photodisintegration of a Proton Pair

We present a study of high energy photodisintegration of proton-pairs through the γ + 3He → p + p + n channel. Photon energies, Eγ , from 0.8 to 4.7 GeV were used in kinematics corresponding to a proton pair with high relative momentum and a neutron nearly at rest. The s−11 scaling of the cross section, as predicted by the constituent counting rule for two nucleon photodisintegration, was observed for the first time. The onset of the scaling is at a higher energy and the cross section is significantly lower than for deuteron (pn pair) photodisintegration. For Eγ below the scaling region, the scaled cross section was found to present a strong energy-dependent structure not observed in deuteron photodisintegration

Search for Three-Nucleon Short-Range Correlations in Light Nuclei

We present new data probing short-range correlations (SRCs) in nuclei through the measurement of electron scattering off high-momentum nucleons in nuclei. The inclusive 4He/3He cross section ratio is observed to be both x and Q2 independent for 1.5 \u3c x \u3c 2, confirming the dominance of two-nucleon short-range correlations. For x \u3e 2, our data support the hypothesis that a previous claim of three-nucleon correlation dominance was an artifact caused by the limited resolution of the measurement. While 3N-SRCs appear to have an important contribution, our data show that isolating 3N-SRCs is significantly more complicated than for 2N-SRCs

Electroexcitation of the Δ+ (1232) at Low Momentum Transfer

We report on new p(e, e\u27 p)π°. measurements at the Δ+(1232) resonance at the low momentum transfer region, where the mesonic cloud dynamics is predicted to be dominant and rapidly changing, offering a test bed for chiral effective field theory calculations. The new data explore the Q2 dependence of the resonant quadrupole amplitudes and for the first time indicate that the Electric and the Coulomb quadrupole amplitudes converge as Q2 -\u3e 0. The measurements of the Coulomb quadrupole amplitude have been extended to the lowest momentum transfer ever reached, and suggest that more than half of its magnitude is attributed to the mesonic cloud in this region. The new data disagree with predictions of constituent quark models and are in reasonable agreement with dynamical calculations that include pion cloud effects, chiral effective field theory and lattice calculations. The measurements indicate that improvement is required to the theoretical calculations and provide valuable input that will allow their refinements

First Measurement of Unpolarized Semi-Inclusive Deep-Inelastic Scattering Cross Sections From a He 3 Target

The unpolarized semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering (SIDIS) differential cross sections in 3He(e,e′π±)X have been measured for the first time in Jefferson Lab experiment E06-010 with a 5.9GeV e- beam on a 3He gas target. The experiment focuses on the valence quark region, covering a kinematic range 0.12\u3cxbj\u3c0.45,1\u3cQ2\u3c4(GeV/c)2,0.45\u3czh\u3c0.65, and 0.05\u3cPt\u3c0.55GeV/c. The extracted SIDIS differential cross sections of π± production are compared with existing phenomenological models while the 3He nucleus approximated as two protons and one neutron in a plane-wave picture, in multidimensional bins. Within the experimental uncertainties, the azimuthal modulations of the cross sections are found to be consistent with zero. © 2017 American Physical Society

Measurement of “Pretzelosity” Asymmetry of Charged Pion Production in Semi-Inclusive Deep Inelastic Scattering on a Polarized \u3csup\u3e3\u3c/sup\u3eHe Target

An experiment to measure single-spin asymmetries of semi-inclusive production of charged pions in deep-inelastic scattering on a transversely polarized 3He target was performed at Jefferson Laboratory in the kinematic region of 0.16\u3cx\u3c0.35 and 1.42\u3c2.7 GeV2 Pretzelosity asymmetries on 3He, which are expressed as the convolution of the h⊥1T transverse-momentum-dependent distribution functions and the Collins fragmentation functions in the leading order, were measured for the first time. Under the effective polarization approximation, we extracted the corresponding neutron asymmetries from the measured 3He asymmetries and cross-section ratios between the proton and 3He. Our results show that both π± on 3He and on neutron pretzelosity asymmetries are consistent with zero within experimental uncertainties