Experimental Challenges of the N* Program

The first challenge faced in investigating the strong interaction from partially explored, where meson-cloud degrees of freedom dominate, to still unexplored distance scales, where the dressed-quark contributions are the dominating degrees of freedom, is to find an experiment that allows to measure observables that are probing this evolving nonperturbative QCD regime over the full range. Baryon spectroscopy can establish more sensitively, and in an almost model-independent way, nucleon excitation and non-resonant reaction amplitudes by complete measurements of pseudo-scalar meson photoproduction off nucleons. Elastic and transition form factors can then trace this evolution by measurements of elastic electron scattering and exclusive single-meson and double-pion electroproduction cross sections off the nucleon that will be extended to higher momentum transfers with the energy-upgraded CEBAF beam at JLab to study the dressed quark degrees of freedom, where their strong interaction is responsible for the ground and excited nucleon state formations. After establishing unprecedented high-precision data, the immanent next challenge is a high-quality analysis to extract these relevant electrocoupling parameters for various resonances that then can be compared to state of the art models and QCD-based calculations. Recent results demonstrate the status of the analysis and pinpoint further challenges, including those to establish QCD-based results directly from the experimental data.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, NSTAR2011 conferenc

Pion and kaon structure at the electron-ion collider

Understanding the origin and dynamics of hadron structure and in turn that of atomic nuclei is a central goal of nuclear physics. This challenge entails the questions of how does the roughly 1GeV mass-scale that characterizes atomic nuclei appear; why does it have the observed value; and, enigmatically, why are the composite Nambu-Goldstone (NG) bosons in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) abnormally light in comparison? In this perspective, we provide an analysis of the mass budget of the pion and proton in QCD; discuss the special role of the kaon, which lies near the boundary between dominance of strong and Higgs mass-generation mechanisms; and explain the need for a coherent effort in QCD phenomenology and continuum calculations, in exa-scale computing as provided by lattice QCD, and in experiments to make progress in understanding the origins of hadron masses and the distribution of that mass within them. We compare the unique capabilities foreseen at the electron-ion collider (EIC) with those at the hadron-electron ring accelerator (HERA), the only previous electron-proton collider; and describe five key experimental measurements, enabled by the EIC and aimed at delivering fundamental insights that will generate concrete answers to the questions of how mass and structure arise in the pion and kaon, the Standard Model's NG modes, whose surprisingly low mass is critical to the evolution of our Universe

Transition Form Factors: A Unique Opportunity to Connect #11;Non-Perturbative Strong Interactions to QCD

Meson-photoproduction measurements and their reaction-amplitude analyses can establish more sensitively, and in some cases in an almost model-independent way, nucleon excitations and non-resonant reaction amplitudes. However, to investigate the strong interaction from explored — where meson-cloud degrees of freedom contribute substantially to the baryon structure — to still unexplored distance scales — where quark degrees of freedom dominate and the transition from dressed to current quarks occurs — we depend on experiments that allow us to measure observables that are probing this evolving non-perturbative QCD regime over its full range. Elastic and transition form factors are uniquely suited to trace this evolution by measuring elastic electron scattering and exclusive single-meson and double-pion electroproduction cross sections off the nucleon. These exclusive measurements will be extended to higher momentum transfers with the energy-upgraded CEBAF beam at JLab to study the quark degrees of freedom, where their strong interaction is responsible for the ground and excited nucleon state formations. After establishing unprecedented high-precision data, the imminent next challenge is a high-quality analysis to extract these relevant electrocoupling parameters for various resonances that then can be compared to state-of-the-art models and QCD-based calculations. Recent results will demonstrate the status of the analysis and of their theoretical descriptions, and an experimental and theoretical outlook will highlight what shall and may be achieved in the new era of the 12-GeV upgraded transition form factor program

Exclusive π

The goal of our research is to provide the exclusive γ*(n) → p+π− reaction cross section from deuterium data using the correction factor that account for the final state re-scattering that can be determined from the data set itself. The “e1e” Jefferson Lab CLAS data set that we analyze includes both a hydrogen and deuterium target run period, which allows a combined analysis of pion electroproduction off the free proton, the bound proton, and the bound neutron under the same experimental conditions. Hence it will provide the experimentally best possible information about the off-shell and final state interaction effects in deuterium, which must be considered in order to extract the neutron information. This data set will provide results with a kinematic coverage for the hadronic invariant mass W up to 1.7 GeV and in the momentum transfer Q2 range of 0.4 − 1.0 GeV/c2. The cross section analysis of this data set is currently underway, which will considerably improve our knowledge of the Q2 evolution of π−p electroproduction cross sections off bound neutron needed for the extraction of excited neutron state electrocouplings for the first time