Extension of the operational lifetime of the proportional chambers in the HERMES spectrometer

Abstract The experience of the extension of the proportional chambers lifetime at the HERMES (DESY) experiment is presented. A non-invasive technique against the aging process while continuously operating the detectors in the gap of the HERMES spectrometer magnet was performed. It was found that adding 0.14% water to the 65%Ar+30%CO2+5%CF4 gas mixture perfectly cancelled the appearance of self-sustained current (Malter effect). The studies of the remedy for the lifetime extension were performed with the test prototypes of the original proportional chambers. For the complete recovery of the aged test proportional chambers a special training method was developed as well. Training of the aged proportional chamber at 80%CF4+20%CO2 mixture glow discharge with reversed high voltage demonstrated a complete recovery of the detector

Quantum efficiency measurement system for large area CsI photodetectors

A proximity focusing freon/CsI RICH detector has been built for kaon physics at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF or Jefferson Lab), Hall A. The Cherenkov photons are detected by a UV photosensitive CsI film which has been obtained by vacuum evaporation. A dedicated evaporation facility for large area photocathodes has been built for this task. A measuring system has been built to allow the evaluation of the absolute quantum efficiency (QE) just after the evaporation. The evaporation facility is described here, as well as the quantum efficiency measurement device. Results of the QE on-line measurements, for the first time on large area photocathodes, are reported

Performance and results of the RICH detector for kaon physics in Hall A at Jefferson Lab

Abstract A proximity focusing RICH detector has been constructed for the hadron High Resolution Spectrometer (HRS) of Jefferson Lab Experimental Hall-A. This detector is intended to provide excellent hadron identification up to a momentum of 2.5 GeV / c . The RICH uses a 15 mm thick liquid perfluorohexane radiator in proximity focusing geometry to produce Cherenkov photons traversing a 100 mm thick proximity gap filled with pure methane and converted into electrons by a thin film of CsI deposited on the cathode plane of a MWPC. The detector has been successfully employed in the fixed target, high luminosity and high resolution hypernuclear spectroscopy experiment. With its use as a kaon identifier in the 2 GeV / c region, the very large contribution from pions and protons to the hypernuclear spectrum was reduced to a negligible level. The basic parameters and the resulting performance obtained during the experiment are reported in this paper

High Resolution Hypernuclear Spectroscopy at Jefferson Lab Hall A

The characteristics of the Jefferson Lab electron beam, together with those of the experimental equipment, offer a unique opportunity to study hypernuclear spectroscopy via electromagnetic induced reactions. Experiment 94-107 started a systematic study on 1p-shell targets, $^{12}C$, $^{9}Be$ and $^{16}O$. For $^{12}C$ for the first time measurable strength in the core-excited part of the spectrum between the ground state and the p state was shown in $^{12}_{\Lambda}B$ spectrum. A high-quality $^{16}_{\Lambda}N$ spectrum was produced for the first time with sub-MeV energy resolution. A very precise $\Lambda$ binding energy value for $^{16}_{\Lambda}N$, calibrated against the elementary (e,e'K^+) reaction on hydrogen, has also been obtained. $^{9}_{\Lambda}Li$ spectrum shows some disagreement in strength for the second and third doublet with respect to the theory

Hard Two-Photon Contribution to Elastic Lepton-Proton Scattering Determined by the OLYMPUS Experiment

The OLYMPUS collaboration reports on a precision measurement of the positron-proton to electron-proton elastic cross section ratio, $\it R_{2 \gamma}$, a direct measure of the contribution of hard two-photon exchange to the elastic cross section. In the OLYMPUS measurement, 2.01 GeV electron and positron beams were directed through a hydrogen gas target internal to the DORIS storage ring at DESY. A toroidal magnetic spectrometer instrumented with drift chambers and time-of-flight scintillators detected elastically scattered leptons in coincidence with recoiling protons over a scattering angle range of $\approx$ 20° to 80°. The relative luminosity between the two beam species was monitored using tracking telescopes of interleaved GEM and MWPC detectors at 12°, as well as symmetric Møller/Bhabha calorimeters at 1:29°. A total integrated luminosity of $4.5 fb^{-1}$ was collected. In the extraction of $\it R_{2\gamma}$, radiative effects were taken into account using a Monte Carlo generator to simulate the convolutions of internal bremsstrahlung with experiment-specific conditions such as detector acceptance and reconstruction efficiency. The resulting values of $\it R_{2\gamma}$, presented here for a wide range of virtual photon polarization 0:456 < $\epsilon$< 0:978, are smaller than hadronic two-photon exchange calculations predict, but are consistent with phenomenological models

Measurement of the generalized spin polarizabilities of the neutron in the low-Q2Q^2 region

International audienceUnderstanding the nucleon spin structure in the regime where the strong interaction becomes truly strong poses a challenge to both experiment and theory. At energy scales below the nucleon mass of about 1 GeV, the intense interaction among the quarks and gluons inside the nucleon makes them highly correlated. Their coherent behaviour causes the emergence of effective degrees of freedom, requiring the application of non-perturbative techniques such as chiral effective field theory1. Here we present measurements of the neutron’s generalized spin polarizabilities that quantify the neutron’s spin precession under electromagnetic fields at very low energy-momentum transfer squared down to 0.035 GeV2. In this regime, chiral effective field theory calculations2,3,4 are expected to be applicable. Our data, however, show a strong discrepancy with these predictions, presenting a challenge to the current description of the neutron’s spin properties