Measurement of 2- and 3-Nucleon Short Range Correlation Probabilities in Nuclei

The ratios of inclusive electron scattering cross sections of 4He, 12C, and 56Fe to 3He have been measured at 11.4  GeV2, the ratios exhibit two separate plateaus, at 1.52.25. This pattern is predicted by models that include 2- and 3-nucleon short-range correlations (SRC). Relative to A=3, the per-nucleon probabilities of 3-nucleon SRC are 2.3, 3.1, and 4.4 times larger for A=4, 12, and 56. This is the first measurement of 3-nucleon SRC probabilities in nuclei

Observation of nuclear scaling in the A(e,e′) reaction at xB\u3e1

The ratios of inclusive electron scattering cross sections of 4He, 12C, and 56Fe to 3He have been measured for the first time. It is shown that these ratios are independent of xB at Q2\u3e1.4GeV2 for xB\u3e1.5, where the inclusive cross section depends primarily on the high momentum components of the nuclear wave function. The observed scaling shows that the momentum distributions at high-momenta have the same shape for all nuclei and differ only by a scale factor. The observed onset of the scaling at Q2\u3e1.4GeV2 and xB\u3e1.5 is consistent with the kinematical expectation that two-nucleon short range correlations (SRC) dominate the nuclear wave function at pm≳300MeV/c. The values of these ratios in the scaling region can be related to the relative probabilities of SRC in nuclei with A\u3e~3. Our data, combined with calculations and other measurements of the 3He/deuterium ratio, demonstrate that for nuclei with A\u3e~12 these probabilities are 4.9–5.9 times larger than in deuterium, while for 4He it is larger by a factor of about 3.8

Rescattering in Meson Photoproduction off Few Body Systems

Exclusive reactions induced at high momentum transfer in few body systems provide us with an original way to study the production and propagation of hadrons in cold nuclear matter. In very well defined parts of the phase space, the reaction amplitude develops a logarithmic singularity. It is on solid ground since it depends only on on-shell elementary amplitudes and on low momentum components of the nuclear wave function. This is the best window to study the propagation of exotic configurations of hadrons such as, for instance, the onset of color transparency. It may appear earlier in meson photo-production reactions, more particularly in the strange sector, than in more classical quasi elastic scattering of electrons. More generally, those reactions provide us with the best tool to determine the cross section of the scattering of various hadrons (strange particles, vector mesons) from the nucleon and to access the production of possible exotic states.Comment: 15 pages; 11 figures During the review process of the paper, the following changes have been implemented: 1- The title has been changed, 2- The abstact and the first paragraph of the introduction have been rephrased for consistency; 3- Figure 10 has been added; 4- The Appedix has been considerably expanded: it gives the full expressions of the elementary photoproduction amplitudes in terms of Pauli spinors and matrice

Moments of the spin structure functions g(1)(p) and g(1)(d) for 0.05 \u3c Q(2) \u3c 3.0 GeV2

The spin structure functions g, for the proton and the deuteron have been measured over a wide kinematic range in x and Q(2) using 1.6 and 5.7 GeV longitudinally polarized electrons incident upon polarized NH3 and ND3 targets at Jefferson Lab. Scattered electrons were detected in the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer, for 0.05 \u3c Q(2) \u3c 5 GeV2 and W \u3c 3 GeV. The first moments of g(1) for the proton and deuteron are presented - both have a negative slope at low Q(2), as predicted by the extended Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn sum rule. The first extraction of the generalized forward spin polarizability of the proton gamma(p)(0) is also reported. This quantity shows strong Q(2) dependence at low Q(2). Our analysis of the Q(2) evolution of the first moment of g, shows agreement in leading order with Heavy Baryon Chiral Perturbation Theory. However, a significant discrepancy is observed between the gamma(p)(0) data and Chiral Perturbation calculations for gamma(p)(0), even at the lowest Q(2). (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Comparison of forward and backward pp pair knockout in He-3(e, e \u27 pp)n

Measuring nucleon-nucleon short range correlations (SRCs) has been a goal of the nuclear physics community for many years. They are an important part of the nuclear wave function, accounting for almost all of the high-momentum strength. They are closely related to the EMC effect. While their overall probability has been measured, measuring their momentum distributions is more difficult. In order to determine the best configuration for studying SRC momentum distributions, we measured the He-3(e, e\u27 pp)n reaction, looking at events with high-momentum protons (p(p) \u3e 0.35 GeV/c) and a low-momentum neutron (p(n) \u3c 0.2 GeV/c). We examined two angular configurations: either both protons emitted forward or one proton emitted forward and one backward (with respect to the momentum transfer, ). The measured relative momentum distribution of the events with one forward and one backward proton was much closer to the calculated initial-state pp relative momentum distribution, indicating that this is the preferred configuration for measuring SRC

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

Electroexcitation of the P33(1232), P11(1440), D13(1520), S11(1535) at Q^2=0.4 and 0.65(GeV/c)^2

Using two approaches: dispersion relations and isobar model, we have analyzed recent high precision CLAS data on cross sections of \pi^0, \pi^+, and \eta electroproduction on protons, and the longitudinally polarized electron beam asymmetry for p(\vec{e},e'p)\pi^0 and p(\vec{e},e'n)\pi^+. The contributions of the resonances P33(1232), P11(1440), D13(1520), S11(1535) to \pi electroproduction and S11(1535) to \eta electroproduction are found. The results obtained in the two approaches are in good agreement with each other. There is also good agreement between amplitudes of the \gamma^* N \to S11(1535) transition found in \pi and \eta electroproduction. For the first time accurate results are obtained for the longitudinal amplitudes of the P11(1440), D13(1520) and S11(1535) electroexcitation on protons.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure

Coherent photoproduction of pi(+) from He-3

We have measured the differential cross section for the gamma He-3 -\u3e pi(+)t reaction. This reaction was studied using the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) at Jefferson Lab. Real photons produced with the Hall-B bremsstrahlung tagging system in the energy range from 0.50 to 1.55 GeV were incident on a cryogenic liquid He-3 target. The differential cross sections for the gamma He-3 -\u3e pi(+)t reaction were measured as a function of photon-beam energy and pion-scattering angle. Theoretical predictions to date cannot explain the large cross sections except at backward angles, showing that additional components must be added to the model