Monitoring of the calibration constants of the DVCS calorimeter

Radiation exposure of the DVCS calorimeter during data taking has degraded the optical properties of the cristals in a time dependent way. This note presents a method which allows to determine the effective gain of each single block all along data taking, relying on the two absolute elastic calibrations performed at the beginning and at the end of the experiment. Consideration of time dependent gain is shown to improve the missing mass resolution, allowing for a better identification of DVCS events

Tagger design optimization

This note presents the simulations and tests performed at LPSC Grenoble for the optimization of the DVCS tagger paddles. The choice of the wrapping material and the addition of a light guide with a specific triangular cut are discussed and confronted to experimental measurements. This study led to the final configuration of the DVCS tagger

Germination and Seedling Growth of a Set of Rapeseed (Brassica napus) Varieties under Drought Stress Conditions

Drought stress is one of the major abiotic factors affecting seed germination and plant growth especially in arid and semi-arid regions. In this study, we investigated the effects of drought stress on seed germination and seedling growth of five varieties of rapeseed. Seven drought stress levels of zero (control), -3, -5, -7, -9, -11 and -13 bars were performed using polyethylene glycol-6000 (PEG-6000). A completely randomized design with three replications was used for this experiment. Germination percentage (GP), germination rate (GR), mean germination time (MGT), root length (RL) and shoot length (SL) were measured to evaluate the varieties response to PEG-induced drought stress. Drought stress, variety and the interaction drought × variety had a significant effect on all studied parameters. GP and GR decreased with the increase in stress level, while MGT increased. There were no seeds germinated for all varieties at -11 bars and -13 bars. Shoot length decreased with increasing drought stress but different varieties show different performance under stress environment. Root length decreased with increasing level of severe drought stress. However, the presence of moderate drought stress could even improve the root growth of the investigated varieties. The varieties ‘INRA-CZH2' and ‘INRA-CZH3' exhibited the highest germination percentage and the best early seedling growth. Thus, they could be recommended for environments with early cropping cycle drought

Scaling Tests of the Cross Section for Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering

We present the first measurements of the ep → epγ cross section in the deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) regime and the valence quark region. The Q2 dependence (from 1.5 to 2.3 GeV2) of the helicity-dependent cross section indicates the twist-2 dominance of DVCS, proving that generalized parton distributions (GPDs) are accessible to experiment at moderate Q2. The helicity-independent cross section is also measured at Q2=2.3 GeV2. We present the first model-independent measurement of linear combinations of GPDs and GPD integrals up to the twist-3 approximation

The role of orbital angular momentum in the proton spin

The orbital angular momenta $L^u$ and $L^d$ of up and down quarks in the proton are estimated as functions of the energy scale as model-independently as possible, on the basis of Ji's angular momentum sum rule. This analysis indicates that $L^u - L^d$ is large and negative even at low energy scale of nonperturbative QCD, in contrast to Thomas' similar analysis based on the refined cloudy bag model. We pursuit the origin of this apparent discrepancy and suggest that it may have a connection with the fundamental question of how to define quark orbital angular momenta in QCD.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, 1 table A slightly extended version to appear in Eur. Phys. J.

The E00-110 experiment in Jefferson Lab's Hall A: Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering off the Proton at 6 GeV

We present final results on the photon electroproduction ($\vec{e}p\rightarrow ep\gamma$) cross section in the deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) regime and the valence quark region from Jefferson Lab experiment E00-110. Results from an analysis of a subset of these data were published before, but the analysis has been improved which is described here at length, together with details on the experimental setup. Furthermore, additional data have been analyzed resulting in photon electroproduction cross sections at new kinematic settings, for a total of 588 experimental bins. Results of the $Q^2$- and $x_B$-dependences of both the helicity-dependent and helicity-independent cross sections are discussed. The $Q^2$-dependence illustrates the dominance of the twist-2 handbag amplitude in the kinematics of the experiment, as previously noted. Thanks to the excellent accuracy of this high luminosity experiment, it becomes clear that the unpolarized cross section shows a significant deviation from the Bethe-Heitler process in our kinematics, compatible with a large contribution from the leading twist-2 DVCS$^2$ term to the photon electroproduction cross section. The necessity to include higher-twist corrections in order to fully reproduce the shape of the data is also discussed. The DVCS cross sections in this paper represent the final set of experimental results from E00-110, superseding the previous publication.Comment: 48 pages, 32 figure

Exclusive Neutral Pion Electroproduction in the Deeply Virtual Regime

We present measurements of the ep->ep pi^0 cross section extracted at two values of four-momentum transfer Q^2=1.9 GeV^2 and Q^2=2.3 GeV^2 at Jefferson Lab Hall A. The kinematic range allows to study the evolution of the extracted hadronic tensor as a function of Q^2 and W. Results will be confronted with Regge inspired calculations and GPD predictions. An intepretation of our data within the framework of semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering has also been attempted