Search Results (82 total)

The exclusive electroproduction process e→p→e^'nπ⁺ was measured in the range of the photon virtuality Q²=1.7-4.5 GeV², and the invariant mass range for the nπ⁺ system of W=1.15-1.7 GeV using the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer. For the first time, these kinematics are probed in exclusive π⁺ production from protons with nearly full coverage in the azimuthal and polar angles of the nπ⁺ center-of-mass system. The nπ⁺ channel has particular sensitivity to the isospin ½ excited nucleon states, and together with the pπ⁰ final state will serve to determine the transition form factors of a large number of resonances. The largest discrepancy between these results and present modes was seen in the σ_LT^' structure function. In this experiment, 31,295 cross section and 4,184 asymmetry data points were measured. Because of the large volume of data, only a reduced set of structure functions and Legendre polynomial moments can be presented that are obtained in model-independent fits to the differential cross sections.

Differential cross sections for the reaction γp→pπ⁰ have been measured with the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) and a tagged photon beam with energies from 0.675 to 2.875 GeV. The results reported here possess greater accuracy in the absolute normalization than previous measurements. They disagree with recent CB-ELSA measurements for the process at forward scattering angles. Agreement with the SAID and MAID fits is found below 1 GeV. The present set of cross sections has been incorporated into the SAID database, and exploratory fits have been extended to 3 GeV. Resonance couplings have been extracted and compared to previous determinations.

New cross sections for the reaction ep→e^'ηp are reported for total center-of-mass energy W=1.5-2.3 GeV and invariant squared momentum transfer Q²=0.13-3.3 GeV². This large kinematic range allows the extraction of new information about response functions, photocouplings, and ηN coupling strengths of baryon resonances. A sharp structure is seen at W~1.7 GeV. The shape of the differential cross section is indicative of the presence of a P-wave resonance that persists to high Q². Improved values are derived for the photocoupling amplitude for the S₁₁(1535) resonance. The new data greatly expand the Q² range covered, and an interpretation of all data with a consistent parametrization is provided.

The data analysis for the reaction ¹H(e,e^'π⁺)n, which was used to determine values for the charged pion form factor F_π for values of Q²= 0.6–1.6 GeV², has been repeated with careful inspection of all steps and special attention to systematic uncertainties. Also the method used to extract F_π from the measured longitudinal cross section was critically reconsidered. Final values for the separated longitudinal and transverse cross sections and the extracted values of F_π are presented.

We report measurements of the exclusive electroproduction of K⁺Λ and K⁺Σ⁰ final states from a proton target using the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) large-acceptance spectrometer (CLAS) detector at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. The separated structure functions σ_T,σ_L,σ_TT, and σ_LT were extracted from the Φ- and ε-dependent differential cross sections taken with electron beam energies of 2.567, 4.056, and 4.247 GeV. This analysis represents the first σ_L/σ_T separation with the CLAS detector, and the first measurement of the kaon electroproduction structure functions away from parallel kinematics. The data span a broad range of momentum transfers from 0.5≤Q²≤2.8GeV² and invariant energy from 1.6≤W≤2.4 GeV, while spanning nearly the full center-of-mass angular range of the kaon. The separated structure functions reveal clear differences between the production dynamics for the Λ and Σ⁰ hyperons. These results provide an unprecedented data sample with which to constrain current and future models for the associated production of strangeness, which will allow for a better understanding of the underlying resonant and nonresonant contributions to hyperon production.

Spin transfer from circularly polarized real photons to recoiling hyperons has been measured for the reactions γ→+p→K++Λ→ and γ→+p→K++Σ→0. The data were obtained using the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) detector at the Jefferson Lab for center-of-mass energies W between 1.6 and 2.53 GeV, and for -0.85<cosθK+c.m.<+0.95. For the Λ, the polarization transfer coefficient along the photon momentum axis, Cz, was found to be near unity for a wide range of energy and kaon production angles. The associated transverse polarization coefficient Cx is smaller than Cz by a roughly constant difference of unity. Most significantly, the total Λ polarization vector, including the induced polarization P, has magnitude consistent with unity at all measured energies and production angles when the beam is fully polarized. For the Σ0 this simple phenomenology does not hold. All existing hadrodynamic models are in poor agreement with these results.

New measurements of the spin structure functions of the proton and deuteron g₁^p(x,Q²) and g₁^d(x,Q²) in the nucleon resonance region are compared with extrapolations of target-mass-corrected next-to-leading-order (NLO) QCD fits to higher energy data. Averaged over the entire resonance region (W<2 GeV), the data and QCD fits are in good agreement in both magnitude and Q² dependence for Q²>1.7 GeV²/c². This “global” duality appears to result from cancellations among the prominent “local” resonance regions: in particular strong σ_3/2 contributions in the Δ(1232) region appear to be compensated by strong σ_1/2 contributions in the resonance region centered on 1.5 GeV. These results are encouraging for the extension of NLO QCD fits to lower W and Q² than have been used previously.

The sizes, temperatures, and free neutron-to-proton ratios of the initial interaction zones produced in the collisions of 40 MeV/nucleon ⁴⁰Ar+¹¹²Sn and 55 MeV/nucleon ²⁷Al+¹²⁴Sn are derived using total detected neutron plus charged particle multiplicity as a measure of the impact parameter range and number of participant nucleons. The size of the initial interaction zone, determined from a coalescence model analysis, increases significantly with decreasing impact parameter. The temperatures and free neutron-to-proton ratios in the interaction zones are relatively similar for different impact parameter ranges and evolve in a similar fashion.

Experimental analyses of moderate-temperature nuclear gases produced in the violent collisions of 35 MeV/nucleon ⁶⁴Zn projectiles with ⁹²Mo and ¹⁹⁷Au target nuclei reveal a large degree of α particle clustering at low densities. For these gases, temperature- and density-dependent symmetry energy coefficients have been derived from isoscaling analyses of the yields of nuclei with A≤4. At densities of 0.01 to 0.05 times the ground-state density of symmetric nuclear matter, the temperature- and density-dependent symmetry energies range from 9.03 to 13.6 MeV. This is much larger than those obtained in mean-field calculations and reflects the clusterization of low-density nuclear matter. The results are in quite reasonable agreement with calculated values obtained with a recently proposed virial equation of state calculation.

We report a new measurement of the exclusive electroproduction reaction γ^*p→π⁰p to explore the evolution from soft nonperturbative physics to hard processes via the Q² dependence of the magnetic (M₁₊), electric (E₁₊), and scalar (S₁₊) multipoles in the N→Δ transition. 9000 differential cross section data points cover W from threshold to 1.4  GeV/c², 4π center-of-mass solid angle, and Q² from 3 to 6  GeV²/c², the highest yet achieved. It is found that the magnetic form factor G_M^* decreases with Q² more steeply than the proton magnetic form factor, the ratio E₁₊/M₁₊ is small and negative, indicating strong helicity nonconservation, and the ratio S₁₊/M₁₊ is negative, while its magnitude increases with Q².

The longitudinal target-spin asymmetry A_UL for the exclusive electroproduction of high-energy photons was measured for the first time in ep→→e^′pγ. The data have been accumulated at JLab with the CLAS spectrometer using 5.7 GeV electrons and a longitudinally polarized NH₃ target. A significant azimuthal angular dependence was observed, resulting from the interference of the deeply virtual Compton scattering and Bethe-Heitler processes. The amplitude of the sin⁡ϕ moment is 0.252±0.042^stat±0.020^sys. Theoretical calculations are in good agreement with the magnitude and the kinematic dependence of the target-spin asymmetry, which is sensitive to the generalized parton distributions H˜ and H.

Inclusive electron scattering off the deuteron has been measured to extract the deuteron structure function F₂ with the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. The measurement covers the entire resonance region from the quasielastic peak up to the invariant mass of the final-state hadronic system W≃2.7 GeV with four-momentum transfers Q² from 0.4 to 6 (GeV/c)². These data are complementary to previous measurements of the proton structure function F₂ and cover a similar two-dimensional region of Q² and Bjorken variable x. Determination of the deuteron F₂ over a large x interval including the quasielastic peak as a function of Q², together with the other world data, permit a direct evaluation of the structure function moments for the first time. By fitting the Q² evolution of these moments with an OPE-based twist expansion we have obtained a separation of the leading twist and higher twist terms. The observed Q² behavior of the higher twist contribution suggests a partial cancelation of different higher twists entering into the expansion with opposite signs. This cancelation, found also in the proton moments, is a manifestation of the “duality” phenomenon in the F₂ structure function.

High-statistics cross sections for the reactions γ+p→K++Λ and γ+p→K++Σ0 have been measured using CLAS at Jefferson Lab for center-of-mass energies W between 1.6 and 2.53 GeV, and for -0.85<cosθK+c.m.<+0.95. In the K+Λ channel we confirm a resonance-like structure near W=1.9 GeV at backward kaon angles. The position and width of this structure change with angle, indicating that more than one resonance is likely playing a role. The K+Λ channel at forward angles and all energies is well described by a t-channel scaling characteristic of Regge exchange, whereas the same scaling applied to the K+Σ0 channel is less successful. Several existing theoretical models are compared to the data, but none provide a good representation of the results.

The ratios of inclusive electron scattering cross sections of ⁴He, ¹²C, and ⁵⁶Fe to ³He have been measured at 1<x_B<3. At Q²>1.4  GeV², the ratios exhibit two separate plateaus, at 1.5<x_B<2 and at x_B>2.25. This pattern is predicted by models that include 2- and 3-nucleon short-range correlations (SRC). Relative to A=3, the per-nucleon probabilities of 3-nucleon SRC are 2.3, 3.1, and 4.4 times larger for A=4, 12, and 56. This is the first measurement of 3-nucleon SRC probabilities in nuclei.

The ep→e^'π⁺n reaction was studied in the first and second nucleon resonance regions in the 0.25 GeV²<Q²<0.65 GeV² range by use of the CLAS detector at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. For the first time, to our knowledge, the absolute cross sections were measured, covering nearly the full angular range in the hadronic center-of-mass frame. We extracted the structure functions σ_TL,σ_TT, and the linear combination σ_T+εσ_L by fitting the ϕ dependence of the measured cross sections and compared them with the MAID and Sato-Lee models.

Differential cross sections for the reaction γp→η^′p have been measured with the CLAS spectrometer and a tagged photon beam with energies from 1.527 to 2.227 GeV. The results reported here possess much greater accuracy than previous measurements. Analyses of these data suggest for the first time the coupling of the η^′N channel to both the S₁₁(1535) and P₁₁(1710) resonances, known to couple strongly to the ηN channel in photoproduction on the proton, and the importance of J=3/2 resonances in the process.

The polarized longitudinal-transverse structure function σ_LT^' measures the interference between real and imaginary amplitudes in pion electroproduction and can be used to probe the coupling between resonant and nonresonant processes. We report new measurements of σ_LT^' in the N(1440)1 / 2⁺ (Roper) resonance region at Q²=0.40 and 0.65GeV² for both the π⁰p and π⁺n channels. The experiment was performed at Jefferson Lab with the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) using longitudinally polarized electrons at a beam energy of 1.515 GeV. Complete angular distributions were obtained and are compared to recent phenomenological models. The σ_LT^'(π⁺n) channel shows a large sensitivity to the Roper-resonance multipoles M_1- and S_1- and provides new constraints on models of resonance formation.

Beam-helicity asymmetries for the two-pion-photoproduction reaction γ→p→pπ⁺π^- have been studied for the first time in the resonance region for center-of-mass energies between 1.35 and 2.30 GeV. The experiment was performed at Jefferson Lab with the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer using circularly polarized tagged photons incident on an unpolarized hydrogen target. Beam-helicity-dependent angular distributions of the final-state particles were measured. The large cross-section asymmetries exhibit strong sensitivity to the kinematics and dynamics of the reaction. The data are compared with the results of various phenomenological model calculations, and show that these models currently do not provide an adequate description for the behavior of this new observable.

The kinetic-energy variation of emitted light clusters has been employed as a clock to explore the time evolution of the temperature for thermalizing composite systems produced in the reactions of 26A, 35A, and 47A MeV ⁶⁴Zn with ⁵⁸Ni, ⁹²Mo, and ¹⁹⁷Au. For each system investigated, the double-isotope ratio temperature curve exhibits a high maximum apparent temperature, in the range of 10–25 MeV, at high ejectile velocity. These maximum values increase with increasing projectile energy and decrease with increasing target mass. The time at which the maximum in the temperature curve is reached ranges from 80 to 130 fm/c after contact. For each different target, the subsequent cooling curves for all three projectile energies are quite similar. Temperatures comparable with those of limiting temperature systematics are reached 30 to 40 fm/c after the times corresponding to the maxima, at a time when antisymmetrized molecular dynamics transport model calculations predict entry into the final evaporative or fragmentation stage of deexcitation of the hot composite systems. Evidence for the establishment of thermal and chemical equilibrium is discussed.

We propose to use the rescaled range analysis to examine the records of rapidity-dependence of multiplicities in high-energy collision processes. We probe event by event the existence of global statistical dependence in the system of produced hadrons, and demonstrate the effectiveness of the above-mentioned statistical method by applying it to the cosmic-ray data of the JACEE collaboration, and by comparing the obtained results with other experimental results for similar reactions at accelerator and collider energies. We present experimental evidence for the validity of Hurst’s empirical law, and the evidence for the existence of global statistical dependence, fractal dimension, and scaling behavior in such systems of hadronic matter. None of these features is directly related to the basis of the conventional physical picture. Hence, it is not clear whether (and if yes, how and why) these striking empirical regularities can be understood in terms of the conventional theory.

The electromagnetic decays of the Σ⁰(1385) and Λ(1520) hyperons were studied in photon-induced reactions γp→K⁺Λ(1116)γ in the Large Acceptance Spectrometer detector at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. We report the first observation of the radiative decay of the Σ⁰(1385) and a measurement of the Λ(1520) radiative decay width. For the Σ⁰(1385)→Λ(1116)γ transition, we measured a partial width of 479±120(stat)_-100⁺⁸¹(sys)  keV, larger than all of the existing model predictions. For the Λ(1520)→Λ(1116)γ transition, we obtained a partial width of 167±43(stat)_-12⁺²⁶(sys)  keV.

Calorimetric and coalescence techniques have been employed to probe equilibration for hot nuclei produced in heavy-ion collisions of 35 to 55 MeV/nucleon projectiles with medium mass targets. Entrance channel mass asymmetries and energies were selected so that very hot composite nuclei of similar mass and excitation would remain after early stage preequilibrium particle emission. Intercomparison of the properties and deexcitation patterns for these different systems provides evidence for the production of hot nuclei with decay patterns relatively independent of the specific entrance channel.

An extensive experimental survey of the features of the disassembly of a small quasiprojectile system with A~36, produced in the reactions of 47 MeV/nucleon ⁴⁰Ar  +  ²⁷Al, ⁴⁸Ti, and ⁵⁸Ni, has been carried out. Nuclei in the excitation energy range of 1–9 MeV/nucleon have been investigated employing a new method to reconstruct the quasiprojectile source. At an excitation energy ∼5.6 MeV/nucleon many observables indicate the presence of maximal fluctuations in the deexcitation processes. These include the normalized second moments of the Campi plot and normalized variances of the distributions of order parameters such as the atomic number of the heaviest fragment Z_max and the total kinetic energy. The evolution of the correlation of the atomic number of the heaviest fragment with that of the second heaviest fragment and a bimodality test are also consistent with a transition in the same excitation energy region. The related phase separation parameter, S_p, shows a significant change of slope at the same excitation energy. In the same region a Δ-scaling analysis for of the heaviest fragments exhibits a transition to Δ = 1 scaling, which is predicted to characterize a disordered phase. The fragment topological structure shows that the rank-sorted fragments obey Zipf's law at the point of largest fluctuations, providing another indication of a liquid gas phase transition. The Fisher droplet model critical exponent τ ∼ 2.3 obtained from the charge distribution at the same excitation energy is close to the critical exponent of the liquid gas phase transition universality class. The caloric curve for this system shows a monotonic increase of temperature with excitation energy and no apparent plateau. The temperature at the point of maximal fluctuations is 8.3±0.5  MeV. Taking this temperature as the critical temperature and employing the caloric curve information we have extracted the critical exponents β,γ, and σ from the data. Their values are also consistent with the values of the universality class of the liquid gas phase transition. Taken together, this body of evidence strongly suggests a phase change in an equilibrated mesoscopic system at, or extremely close to, the critical point.