Photoproduction of K+K− meson pairs on the proton

The exclusive reaction γp→pK+K− was studied in the photon energy range 3.0–3.8  GeV and momentum transfer range 0.6<−t<1.3  GeV2. Data were collected with the CLAS detector at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. In this kinematic range the integrated luminosity was approximately 20  pb−1. The reaction was isolated by detecting the K+ and the proton in CLAS, and reconstructing the K− via the missing-mass technique. Moments of the dikaon decay angular distributions were extracted from the experimental data. Besides the dominant contribution of the ϕ meson in the P wave, evidence for S−P interference was found. The differential production cross sections dσ/dt for individual waves in the mass range of the ϕ resonance were extracted and compared to predictions of a Regge-inspired model. This is the first time the t-dependent cross section of the S-wave contribution to the elastic K+K− photoproduction has been measured

Beam-target helicity asymmetry for γ→n→→π−p in the N*resonance region

We report the first beam-target double-polarization asymmetries in the γ þ nðpÞ → π− þ pðpÞ reaction spanning the nucleon resonance region from invariant mass W ¼ 1500 to 2300 MeV. Circularly polarized photons and longitudinally polarized deuterons in solid hydrogen deuteride (HD) have been used with the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) at Jefferson Lab. The exclusive final state has been extracted using three very different analyses that show excellent agreement, and these have been used to deduce the E polarization observable for an effective neutron target. These results have been incorporated into new partial wave analyses and have led to significant revisions for several γnN* resonance photocouplings

First Measurement of Λ Electroproduction off Nuclei in the Current and Target Fragmentation Regions

We report results of Λ hyperon production in semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering off deuterium, carbon, iron, and lead targets obtained with the CLAS detector and the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility 5.014 GeV electron beam. These results represent the first measurements of the Λ multiplicity ratio and transverse momentum broadening as a function of the energy fraction (z) in the current and target fragmentation regions. The multiplicity ratio exhibits a strong suppression at high zand an enhancement at low z. The measured transverse momentum broadening is an order of magnitude greater than that seen for light mesons. This indicates that the propagating entity interacts very strongly with the nuclear medium, which suggests that propagation of diquark configurations in the nuclear medium takes place at least part of the time, even at high z. The trends of these results are qualitatively described by the Giessen Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck transport model, particularly for the multiplicity ratios. These observations will potentially open a new era of studies of the structure of the nucleon as well as of strange baryons

Target and Beam-Target Spin Asymmetries in Exclusive Pion Electroproduction for \u3cem\u3eQ\u3c/em\u3e\u3csup\u3e2\u3c/sup\u3e \u3e 1 GeV\u3csup\u3e2\u3c/sup\u3e. II. \u3cem\u3eep\u3c/em\u3e → \u3cem\u3eeπ\u3c/em\u3e\u3csup\u3e0\u3c/sup\u3e\u3cem\u3ep\u3c/em\u3e

Beam-target double-spin asymmetries and target single-spin asymmetries were measured for the exclusive π0 electroproduction reaction γ∗p → pπ0, expanding an analysis of the γ∗p → nπ+ reaction from the same experiment. 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 ranges covered are 1.1 \u3c W \u3c 3 GeV and 1 \u3c Q2 \u3c 6 GeV2. Results were obtained for about 5700 bins in W, Q2, cos(θ∗), and ϕ∗. The beam-target asymmetries were found to generally be greater than zero, with relatively modest ϕ∗ dependence. The target asymmetries exhibit very strong ϕ∗ dependence, with a change in sign occurring between results at low W and high W, in contrast to π+ electroproduction. Reasonable agreement is found with phenomenological fits to previous data for W \u3c 1.6 GeV, but significant differences are seen at higher W. When combined with cross-sectional measurements, as well as π+ observables, the present results will provide powerful constraints on nucleon resonance amplitudes at moderate and large values of Q2, for resonances with masses as high as 2.4 GeV

Measurement of Two-Photon Exchange Effect by Comparing Elastic \u3cem\u3ee\u3c/em\u3e\u3csup\u3e±\u3c/sup\u3e\u3cem\u3ep\u3c/em\u3e Cross Sections

Background: The electromagnetic form factors of the proton measured by unpolarized and polarized electron scattering experiments show a significant disagreement that grows with the squared four-momentum transfer (Q2). Calculations have shown that the two measurements can be largely reconciled by accounting for the contributions of two-photon exchange (TPE). TPE effects are not typically included in the standard set of radiative corrections since theoretical calculations of the TPE effects are highly model dependent, and, until recently, no direct evidence of significant TPE effects has been observed. Purpose: We measured the ratio of positron-proton to electron-proton elastic-scattering cross sections in order to determine the TPE contribution to elastic electron-proton scattering and thereby resolve the proton electric form factor discrepancy. Methods: We produced a mixed simultaneous electron-positron beam in Jefferson Lab\u27s Hall B by passing the 5.6-GeV primary electron beam through a radiator to produce a bremsstrahlung photon beam and then passing the photon beam through a convertor to produce electron-positron pairs. The mixed electron-positron (lepton) beam with useful energies from approximately 0.85 to 3.5 GeV then struck a 30-cm-long liquid hydrogen (LH2) target located within the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS). By detecting both the scattered leptons and the recoiling protons, we identified and reconstructed elastic scattering events and determined the incident lepton energy. A detailed description of the experiment is presented. Results: We present previously unpublished results for the quantity R2γ, the TPE correction to the elastic-scattering cross section, at Q2 ≈ 0.85 and 1.45 GeV2 over a large range of virtual photon polarization ɛ. Conclusions: Our results, along with recently published results from VEPP-3, demonstrate a nonzero contribution from TPE effects and are in excellent agreement with the calculations that include TPE effects and largely reconcile the form-factor discrepancy up to Q2 ≈ 2 GeV2. These data are consistent with an increase in R2γ with decreasing ɛ at Q2 ≈ 0.85 and 1.45 GeV2. There are indications of a slight increase in R2γ with Q2