200 research outputs found
The Heavy Photon Search beamline and its performance
The Heavy Photon Search (HPS) is an experiment to search for a hidden sector
photon, aka a heavy photon or dark photon, in fixed target electroproduction at
the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab). The HPS experiment
searches for the ee decay of the heavy photon with bump hunt and
detached vertex strategies using a compact, large acceptance forward
spectrometer, consisting of a silicon microstrip detector (SVT) for tracking
and vertexing, and a PbWO electromagnetic calorimeter for energy
measurement and fast triggering. To achieve large acceptance and good vertexing
resolution, the first layer of silicon detectors is placed just 10 cm
downstream of the target with the sensor edges only 500 m above and below
the beam. Placing the SVT in such close proximity to the beam puts stringent
requirements on the beam profile and beam position stability. As part of an
approved engineering run, HPS took data in 2015 and 2016 at 1.05 GeV and 2.3
GeV beam energies, respectively. This paper describes the beam line and its
performance during that data taking
The HPS electromagnetic calorimeter
The Heavy Photon Search experiment (HPS) is searching for a new gauge boson, the so-called âheavy photon.â Through its kinetic mixing with the Standard Model photon, this particle could decay into an electron-positron pair. It would then be detectable as a narrow peak in the invariant mass spectrum of such pairs, or, depending on its lifetime, by a decay downstream of the production target. The HPS experiment is installed in Hall-B of Jefferson Lab. This article presents the design and performance of one of the two detectors of the experiment, the electromagnetic calorimeter, during the runs performed in 2015â2016. The calorimeter's main purpose is to provide a fast trigger and reduce the copious background from electromagnetic processes through matching with a tracking detector. The detector is a homogeneous calorimeter, made of 442 lead-tungstate (PbWO4) scintillating crystals, each read out by an avalanche photodiode coupled to a custom trans-impedance amplifier
The Heavy Photon Search test detector
The Heavy Photon Search (HPS), an experiment to search for a hidden sector photon in fixed target electroproduction, is preparing for installation at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) in the Fall of 2014. As the first stage of this project, the HPS Test Run apparatus was constructed and operated in 2012 to demonstrate the experimentŚłs technical feasibility and to confirm that the trigger rates and occupancies are as expected. This paper describes the HPS Test Run apparatus and readout electronics and its performance. In this setting, a heavy photon can be identified as a narrow peak in the e+eâ invariant mass spectrum above the trident background or as a narrow invariant mass peak with a decay vertex displaced from the production target, so charged particle tracking and vertexing are needed for its detection. In the HPS Test Run, charged particles are measured with a compact forward silicon microstrip tracker inside a dipole magnet. Electromagnetic showers are detected in a PbW04 crystal calorimeter situated behind the magnet, and are used to trigger the experiment and identify electrons and positrons. Both detectors are placed close to the beam line and split top-bottom. This arrangement provides sensitivity to low-mass heavy photons, allows clear passage of the unscattered beam, and avoids the spray of degraded electrons coming from the target. The discrimination between prompt and displaced e+eâ pairs requires the first layer of silicon sensors be placed only 10 cm downstream of the target. The expected signal is small, and the trident background huge, so the experiment requires very large statistics. Accordingly, the HPS Test Run utilizes high-rate readout and data acquisition electronics and a fast trigger to exploit the essentially 100% duty cycle of the CEBAF accelerator at JLab
Absorption of the and Mesons in Nuclei
Due to their long lifetimes, the and mesons are the ideal
candidates for the study of possible modifications of the in-medium
meson-nucleon interaction through their absorption inside the nucleus. During
the E01-112 experiment at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility,
the mesons were photoproduced from H, C, Ti, Fe, and Pb targets. This
paper reports the first measurement of the ratio of nuclear transparencies for
the channel. The ratios indicate larger in-medium widths compared
with what have been reported in other reaction channels.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Tensor Correlations Measured in 3He(e,e'pp)n
We have measured the 3He(e,e'pp)n reaction at an incident energy of 4.7 GeV
over a wide kinematic range. We identified spectator correlated pp and pn
nucleon pairs using kinematic cuts and measured their relative and total
momentum distributions. This is the first measurement of the ratio of pp to pn
pairs as a function of pair total momentum, . For pair relative
momenta between 0.3 and 0.5 GeV/c, the ratio is very small at low and
rises to approximately 0.5 at large . This shows the dominance of
tensor over central correlations at this relative momentum.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR
Differential cross sections and recoil polarizations for the reaction gamma p -> K+ Sigma0
High-statistics measurements of differential cross sections and recoil
polarizations for the reaction have been
obtained using the CLAS detector at Jefferson Lab. We cover center-of-mass
energies () from 1.69 to 2.84 GeV, with an extensive coverage in the
production angle. Independent measurements were made using the
() and () final-state topologies,
and were found to exhibit good agreement. Our differential cross sections show
good agreement with earlier CLAS, SAPHIR and LEPS results, while offering
better statistical precision and a 300-MeV increase in coverage.
Above GeV, - and -channel Regge scaling behavior
can be seen at forward- and backward-angles, respectively. Our recoil
polarization () measurements represent a substantial increase in
kinematic coverage and enhanced precision over previous world data. At forward
angles we find that is of the same magnitude but opposite sign as
, in agreement with the static SU(6) quark model prediction of
. This expectation is violated in some mid- and
backward-angle kinematic regimes, where and are of
similar magnitudes but also have the same signs. In conjunction with several
other meson photoproduction results recently published by CLAS, the present
data will help constrain the partial wave analyses being performed to search
for missing baryon resonances.Comment: 23 pages, 17 figure
Photoproduction of K+Kâ meson pairs on the proton
The exclusive reaction ÎłpâpK+Kâ was studied in the photon energy range 3.0â3.8ââGeV and momentum transfer range 0.6<ât<1.3ââGeV2. Data were collected with the CLAS detector at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. In this kinematic range the integrated luminosity was approximately 20ââpbâ1. The reaction was isolated by detecting the K+ and the proton in CLAS, and reconstructing the Kâ via the missing-mass technique. Moments of the dikaon decay angular distributions were extracted from the experimental data. Besides the dominant contribution of the Ï meson in the P wave, evidence for SâP interference was found. The differential production cross sections dÏ/dt for individual waves in the mass range of the Ï 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+Kâ photoproduction has been measured
Near-threshold Photoproduction of Phi Mesons from Deuterium
We report the first measurement of the differential cross section on
-meson photoproduction from deuterium near the production threshold for a
proton using the CLAS detector and a tagged-photon beam in Hall B at Jefferson
Lab. The measurement was carried out by a triple coincidence detection of a
proton, and near the theoretical production threshold of 1.57 GeV.
The extracted differential cross sections for the initial
photon energy from 1.65-1.75 GeV are consistent with predictions based on a
quasifree mechanism. This experiment establishes a baseline for a future
experimental search for an exotic -N bound state from heavier nuclear
targets utilizing subthreshold/near-threshold production of mesons
Demonstration of a novel technique to measure two-photon exchange effects in elastic scattering
The discrepancy between proton electromagnetic form factors extracted using
unpolarized and polarized scattering data is believed to be a consequence of
two-photon exchange (TPE) effects. However, the calculations of TPE corrections
have significant model dependence, and there is limited direct experimental
evidence for such corrections. We present the results of a new experimental
technique for making direct comparisons, which has the potential to
make precise measurements over a broad range in and scattering angles. We
use the Jefferson Lab electron beam and the Hall B photon tagger to generate a
clean but untagged photon beam. The photon beam impinges on a converter foil to
generate a mixed beam of electrons, positrons, and photons. A chicane is used
to separate and recombine the electron and positron beams while the photon beam
is stopped by a photon blocker. This provides a combined electron and positron
beam, with energies from 0.5 to 3.2 GeV, which impinges on a liquid hydrogen
target. The large acceptance CLAS detector is used to identify and reconstruct
elastic scattering events, determining both the initial lepton energy and the
sign of the scattered lepton. The data were collected in two days with a
primary electron beam energy of only 3.3 GeV, limiting the data from this run
to smaller values of and scattering angle. Nonetheless, this measurement
yields a data sample for with statistics comparable to those of the
best previous measurements. We have shown that we can cleanly identify elastic
scattering events and correct for the difference in acceptance for electron and
positron scattering. The final ratio of positron to electron scattering:
for GeV and
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