The BLAST Scientific Program

Abstract

Introduction The primary motivation for the BLAST detector is to carry out a comprehensive program of measurements of the spin dependent electromagnetic response of the few body systems. These systems (A = 1,2,3) consist of the free proton, the weakly bound deuteron system and the three body 3 He system. The BLAST scientific program is focussed on the study of these systems in terms of nucleon structure, the ground state few body structure built from the nucleonnucleon interaction and the nature of the interaction of the virtual photon for Q 2 1 (GeV/c) 2 . A major consideration in the design of BLAST has been the realization that these aspects of the study of the electromagnetic response are interrelated in a complicated way and can only be unambiguously separated by a broad study of the few body systems. In addition, both the choice of few body systems and the relatively low momentum transfers should al