Measurement of Exclusive pi(0) Electroproduction Structure Functions and their Relationship to Transverse Generalized Parton Distributions

Exclusive pi(0) electroproduction at a beam energy of 5.75 GeV has been measured with the Jefferson Lab CLAS spectrometer. Differential cross sections were measured at more than 1800 kinematic values in Q(2), x(B), t, and phi(pi), in the Q(2) range from 1.0 to 4.6 GeV2, -t up to 2 GeV2, and x(B) from 0.1 to 0.58. Structure functions sigma(T) + epsilon sigma(L), sigma(TT), and sigma(LT) were extracted as functions of t for each of 17 combinations of Q(2) and x(B). The data were compared directly with two handbag-based calculations including both longitudinal and transversity generalized parton distributions (GPDs). Inclusion of only longitudinal GPDs very strongly underestimates sigma(T) + epsilon sigma(L) and fails to account for sigma(TT) and sigma(LT), while inclusion of transversity GPDs brings the calculations into substantially better agreement with the data. There is very strong sensitivity to the relative contributions of nucleon helicity-flip and helicity nonflip processes. The results confirm that exclusive pi(0) electroproduction offers direct experimental access to the transversity GPDs

Exclusive πᵒ Electroproduction at W \u3e 2 GeV with CLAS

Exclusive neutral-pion electroproduction (ep → e\u27p\u27π0 was measured at Jefferson Lab with a 5.75-GeV electron beam and the CLAS detector. Differential cross sections d4σ/dtdQ2dxBdΦπ and structure functions σT+ ϵσL, σTT, and σLT as functions of t were obtained over a wide range of Q2 and xB. The data are compared with Regge and handbag theoretical calculations. Analyses in both frameworks find that a large dominance of transverse processes is necessary to explain the experimental results. For the Regge analysis it is found that the inclusion of vector meson rescattering processes is necessary to bring the magnitude of the calculated and measured structure functions into rough agreement. In the handbag framework, there are two independent calculations, both of which appear to roughly explain the magnitude of the structure functions in terms of transversity generalized parton distributions

Measurement of the Beam Spin Asymmetry of →ep → e\u27p\u27η in the Deep-Inelastic Regime with CLAS

The beam spin asymmetry of the exclusive pseudoscalar channel →ep→e′p′η was measured for the first time in the deep-inelastic regime (W \u3e 2 GeV/c2 and Q2 \u3e 1 GeV2 /c2) using a longitudinally polarized 5.78 GeV electron beam at Jefferson Lab with the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer. The data were accumulated in 144 four-dimensional bins of Q2, xB, −t and ϕ over a wide kinematic range, where ϕ is the azimuthal angle between the lepton and hadron scattering planes, The measured azimuthal dependence with large amplitudes of the sin ϕ moments is a clear indication of a substantial contribution to the polarized cross-section from transversely polarized virtual photons. In the framework of generalized parton distributions (GPDs) this contribution is expressed via longitudinal-transverse interference between chiral-even and chiral-odd GPDs. The experimental results are compared to the existing theoretical models demonstrating the sensitivity to the product of chiral-odd and chiral-even GPDs and provide new constraints to the existing GPD parameterizations

Exclusive η Electroproduction at W \u3e 2 GeV with CLAS and Transversity Generalized Parton Distributions

The cross section of the exclusive η electroproduction reaction ep -\u3e e\u27p\u27 η was measured at Jefferson Laboratory with a 5.75 GeV electron beam and the CLAS detector. Differential cross sections d4σ /dtdQ2 dxBd φη and structure functions σU=σT + εσL, σTT, and σLT, as functions of t, were obtained over a wide range of Q2 and xB. The η structure functions are compared with those previously measured for π0 at the same kinematics. At low t, both π0 and eta are described reasonably well by generalized parton distributions (GPDs) in which chiral-odd transversity GPDs are dominant. The π0 and η data, when taken together, can facilitate the flavor decomposition of the transversity GPDs

Beam-Recoil Transferred Polarization in K+Y Electroproduction in the Nucleon Resonance Region with CLAS12

Beam-recoil transferred polarizations for the exclusive electroproduction of K + Λ and K + Σ0 final states from an unpolarized proton target have been measured using the CLAS12 spectrometer at Jefferson Laboratory. The measurements at beam energies of 6.535 and 7.546 GeV span the range of four-momentum transfer Q2 from 0.3 to 4.5 GeV2 and invariant energy W from 1.6 to 2.4 GeV, while covering the full center-of-mass angular range of the K+. These new data extend the existing hyperon polarization data from CLAS in a similar kinematic range but from a significantly larger dataset. They represent an important addition to the world data, allowing for better exploration of the reaction mechanism in strangeness production processes, for further understanding of the spectrum and structure of excited nucleon states, and for improved insight into the strong interaction in the regime of nonperturbative dynamics

Exclusive ⁻ Electroproduction Off The Neutron In Deuterium In The Resonance Region

New results for the exclusive and quasifree cross sections off neutrons bound in deuterium vn(p) → pπ− (p) are presented over a wide final state hadron angle range with a kinematic coverage of the invariant mass (W) up to 1.825 GeV and the four-momentum transfer squared (Q2) from 0.4 to 1.0 GeV2. The exclusive structure functions were extracted and their Legendre moments were obtained. Final-state-interaction contributions have been kinematically separated from the extracted quasifree cross sections off bound neutrons solely based on the analysis of the experimental data. These new results will serve as long-awaited input for phenomenological analyses to extract the Q2 evolution of previously unavailable n → N∗ electroexcitation amplitudes and to improve state-of-the-art models of neutrino scattering off nuclei by augmenting the already available results from free protons

Observation of Large Missing-Momentum \u3cb\u3e(e, e\u27 p)\u3c/b\u3e Cross-Section Scaling and the Onset of Correlated-Pair Dominance in Nuclei

We report the measurement of B scaling in (e,e′p) cross-section ratios off nuclei relative to deuterium at large missing momentum of 350 ≤ Pmiss ≤ 600 MeV/c. The observed scaling extends over a kinematic range of 0.7 ≤ B ≤ 1.8, which is significantly wider than 1.4 ≤ B ≤ 1.8 previously observed for inclusive (e,e′) cross-section ratios. The B-integrated cross-section ratios become constant (i.e., scale) beginning at pmiss ≈ kF, the nuclear Fermi momentum. Comparing with theoretical calculations we find good agreement with generalized contact formalism calculations for high missing momentum (\u3e375 MeV /c), suggesting the observed scaling results from interacting with nucleons in short-range correlated (SRC) pairs. For low missing momenta, mean-field calculations show good agreement with the data for pmiss \u3c kF, and suggest a potential non-negligible contribution to the measured cross-section ratios from scattering off single, uncorrelated, nucleons up to pmiss ≈ 350 MeV /c. Therefore, SRCs become dominant in nuclei at pmiss ≈ 350 MeV /c, well above the nuclear Fermi Surface of kF ≈ 250 MeV/c

Observation of Correlations Between Spin and Transverse Momenta in Back-to-Back Dihadron Production at CLAS12

We report the first measurements of deep inelastic scattering spin-dependent azimuthal asymmetries in back-to-back dihadron electroproduction in the deep inelastic scattering process. In this reaction, two hadrons are produced in opposite hemispheres along the z axis in the virtual photon-target nucleon center-of-mass frame, with the first hadron produced in the current-fragmentation region and the second in the target-fragmentation region. The data were taken with longitudinally polarized electron beams of 10.2 and 10.6 GeV incident on an unpolarized liquid-hydrogen target using the CLAS12 spectrometer at Jefferson Lab. Observed nonzero sinΔϕ modulations in ep→e\u27pπ+ X events, where Δϕ is the difference of the azimuthal angles of the proton and pion in the virtual photon and target nucleon center-of-mass frame, indicate that correlations between the spin and transverse momenta of hadrons produced in the target- and current-fragmentation regions may be significant. The measured beam-spin asymmetries provide a first access in dihadron production to a previously unexplored leading-twist spin- and transverse-momentum-dependent fracture function. The fracture functions describe the hadronization of the target remnant after the hard scattering of a virtual photon off a quark in the target particle and provide a new avenue for studying nucleonic structure and hadronization

Target and beam-target spin asymmetries in exclusive pion electroproduction for Q2>1GeV2 . I. ep→eπ+n

Beam-target double-spin asymmetries and target single-spin asymmetries were measured for the exclusive π + electroproduction reaction γ ∗ p → n π + . The results were obtained from scattering of 6-GeV longitudinally polarized electrons off longitudinally polarized protons using the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer at Jefferson Laboratory. The kinematic range covered is 1.1 < W < 3 GeV and 1 < Q 2 < 6 GeV 2 . Results were obtained for about 6000 bins in W ,   Q 2 ,   cos ( θ ∗ ) , and ϕ ∗ . Except at forward angles, very large target-spin asymmetries are observed over the entire W region. Reasonable agreement is found with phenomenological fits to previous data for W < 1.6 GeV, but very large differences are seen at higher values of W . A generalized parton distributions (GPD)-based model is in poor agreement with the data. When combined with cross-sectional measurements, the present results provide powerful constraints on nucleon resonance amplitudes at moderate and large values of Q 2 , for resonances with masses as high as 2.4 GeV

First CLAS12 Measurement of Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering Beam-Spin Asymmetries in the Extended Valence Region

Deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) allows one to probe generalized parton distributions describing the 3D structure of the nucleon. We report the first measurement of the DVCS beam-spin asymmetry using the CLAS12 spectrometer with a 10.2 and 10.6 GeV electron beam scattering from unpolarized protons. The results greatly extend the Q2 and Bjorken-x phase space beyond the existing data in the valence region and provide 1600 new data points measured with unprecedented statistical uncertainty, setting new, tight constraints for future phenomenological studies