The Generalized Parton Distributions program at Jefferson Lab

The Generalized Parton Distributions (GPD) have drawn a lot of interest from the theoretical community since 1997, but also from the experimental community and especially at Jefferson Lab. First, the results for Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering (DVCS) at 4.2 GeV beam energy have recently been extracted from CLAS data. The single spin asymmetry shows a remarkably clean sine wave despite the rather low Q2 achievable at this energy. Two new dedicated DVCS experiments using 6 GeV beam will run in 2003 and 2004 in Hall A and Hall B respectively. Both experiments will yield very accurate results over a wide range of kinematics, and allow for the first time a precise test of the factorization of the DVCS process. Assuming the Bjorken regime is indeed reached, these experiments will allow the extraction of linear combinations of GPD's and put strong constraints on the available phenomenological models. Upon successful completion of both experiments, a wider experimental program at 6 GeV can be envisioned, using for instance Deuterium targets trying to nail down the neutron and deuteron GPD's. In addition, resonances can be probed using DeltaVCS where one produces a resonance in the final state. Finally, the 12 GeV upgrade of Jefferson Lab extends the available kinematical range, and will allow us to perform a complete, high precision GPD program using various reactions among which, Deeply Virtual Meson Electroproduction (DVMP) and DVCS.Comment: Proceeding of "Exclusive Processes at High Momentum Transfer" workshop, May 2002, Jefferson Lab, US

Results on Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering at Jefferson Lab

After about 10 years of growing interest for Generalized Parton Distributions come the first results from dedicated experiments, using the golden Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering process. After a short introduction, we will explain the experimental methodology andshow results of the Hall A E00-110 experiment, which aimed at measuring helicity-dependent photon electroproduction cross sections. We will enphasize how this experiment provided the first stringent tests of the scaling property of this process, allowing for the first time a model-independent extraction of a linear combination of Generalized Parton Distributions. We will also describe the Hall B E01-113 experiment which measured the photon electroproduction beam spin asymmetry over a wide kinematical range. The summary will include an outlook on the next generation of experiments which are already planned at Jefferson Lab at 6 GeV, but also after the planned 12 GeV upgrade.Comment: Proceedings of SPIN'06 Symposium in Kyoto, Japa

On timelike and spacelike deeply virtual Compton scattering at next to leading order

We study timelike and spacelike virtual Compton scattering in the generalized Bjorken scaling regime at next to leading order in the strong coupling constant, in the medium energy range which will be studied intensely at JLab12 and in the COMPASS-II experiment at CERN. We show that the Born amplitudes get sizeable O(\alpha_s) corrections and, even at moderate energies, the gluonic contributions are by no means negligible. We stress that the timelike and spacelike cases are complementary and that their difference deserves much special attention

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

Measurements of the Q2Q^2-Dependence of the Proton and Neutron Spin Structure Functions g1p and g1n

The structure functions g1p and g1n have been measured over the range 0.014 < x < 0.9 and 1 < Q2 < 40 GeV2 using deep-inelastic scattering of 48 GeV longitudinally polarized electrons from polarized protons and deuterons. We find that the Q2 dependence of g1p (g1n) at fixed x is very similar to that of the spin-averaged structure function F1p (F1n). From a NLO QCD fit to all available data we find $\Gamma_1^p - \Gamma_1^n =0.176 \pm 0.003 \pm 0.007$ at Q2=5 GeV2, in agreement with the Bjorken sum rule prediction of 0.182 \pm 0.005.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to Physics Letters

New Measurement of Parity Violation in Elastic Electron-Proton Scattering and Implications for Strange Form Factors

We have measured the parity-violating electroweak asymmetry in the elastic scattering of polarized electrons from the proton. The result is A = -15.05 +- 0.98(stat) +- 0.56(syst) ppm at the kinematic point theta_lab = 12.3 degrees and Q^2 = 0.477 (GeV/c)^2. The measurement implies that the value for the strange form factor (G_E^s + 0.392 G_M^s) = 0.025 +- 0.020 +- 0.014, where the first error is experimental and the second arises from the uncertainties in electromagnetic form factors. This measurement is the first fixed-target parity violation experiment that used either a `strained' GaAs photocathode to produce highly polarized electrons or a Compton polarimeter to continuously monitor the electron beam polarization.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, Tex, elsart.cls; revised version as accepted for Phys. Lett.

Measurement of the Generalized Forward Spin Polarizabilities of the Neutron

The generalized forward spin polarizabilities $\gamma_0$ and $\delta_{LT}$ of the neutron have been extracted for the first time in a $Q^2$ range from 0.1 to 0.9 GeV$^2$. Since $\gamma_0$ is sensitive to nucleon resonances and $\delta_{LT}$ is insensitive to the $\Delta$ resonance, it is expected that the pair of forward spin polarizabilities should provide benchmark tests of the current understanding of the chiral dynamics of QCD. The new results on $\delta_{LT}$ show significant disagreement with Chiral Perturbation Theory calculations, while the data for $\gamma_0$ at low $Q^2$ are in good agreement with a next-to-lead order Relativistic Baryon Chiral Perturbation theory calculation. The data show good agreement with the phenomenological MAID model.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, corrected typo in author name, published in PR

Q^2 Evolution of the Neutron Spin Structure Moments using a He-3 Target

We have measured the spin structure functions $g_1$ and $g_2$ of $^3$He in a double-spin experiment by inclusively scattering polarized electrons at energies ranging from 0.862 to 5.07 GeV off a polarized $^3$He target at a 15.5$^{\circ}$ scattering angle. Excitation energies covered the resonance and the onset of the deep inelastic regions. We have determined for the first time the $Q^2$ evolution of $\Gamma_1(Q^2)=\int_0^{1} g_1(x,Q^2) dx$, $\Gamma_2(Q^2)=\int_0^1 g_2(x,Q^2) dx$ and $d_2 (Q^2) = \int_0^1 x^2[ 2g_1(x,Q^2) + 3g_2(x,Q^2)] dx$ for the neutron in the range 0.1 GeV$^2$ $\leq Q^2 \leq$ 0.9 GeV$^2$ with good precision. $\Gamma_1(Q^2)$ displays a smooth variation from high to low $Q^2$. The Burkhardt-Cottingham sum rule holds within uncertainties and $d_2$ is non-zero over the measured range.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett.. Updated Hermes data in Fig. 2 (top panel) and their corresponding reference. Updated the low x extrapolation error Fig. 2 (middle panel). Corrected references to ChiPT calculation