The $Σ(1385)$ resonance, or $Σ^*$, is well-known as part of the standard baryon decuplet with spin $J=3/2$. Measurements of the reaction $γp \to K^+ Σ^{*0}$ are difficult to extract due to overlap with the nearby $Λ(1405)$ resonance. However, the reaction $γn \to K^+ Σ^{*-}$ has no overlap with the $Λ(1405)$ due to its charge. Here we report the first measurement of cross sections and beam asymmetries for photoproduction of the \sigs from a deuteron target. % where the $K^+$ and $π^-$ are detected in the LEPS spectrometer. The cross sections at forward angles range from 0.4 to 1.2 $μ$b, with a broad maximum near $E_γ\simeq 1.8$ GeV. The beam asymmetries are negative, in contrast to postive values for the $γn \to K^+Σ^-$ reaction.
There is evidence that the photoproduction of single and double pions off bound nucleons inside a nucleus are not only affected by Fermi motion but also by other nuclear effects, such as final state interactions or meson rescattering. We will present preliminary results of a high statistics measurement of single and double pion photoproduction of quasi-free protons and neutrons off the deuteron carried out at the Mainzer Microtron.
Coherent photoproduction of eta mesons from the deuteron has been measured from threshold up to incident photon energies of 750 MeV using the photon spectrometer TAPS at the tagged photon facility at the Mainz microtron MAMI. For the first time, differential coherent cross sections have been deduced from the coincident detection of the eta meson and the recoil deuteron. A missing energy analysis was used for the suppression of background events so that a very clean identification of coherent eta-photoproduction was achieved. The resulting cross sections agree with previous experimental results…
We searched for the Phi--(1860) pentaquark in the photoproduction process off the deuteron in the Xi- pi- decay channel using CLAS. The invariant mass spectrum of the Xi- pi- system does not indicate any statistically significant enhancement near the reported mass M = 1.860 GeV. The statistical analysis of the sideband-subtracted mass spectrum yields a 90% confidence level upper limit of 0.7 nb for the photoproduction cross section of Phi--(1860) with a consecutive decay into Xi- pi- in the photon energy range 4.5 GeV < Egamma < 5.5 GeV.
The cross section and decay angular distributions for the coherent ϕmeson photoproduction on the deuteron have been measured for the first time up to a squared four-momentum transfer t =(p_γ-p_ϕ)^2 =-2 GeV^2/c^2, using the CLAS detector at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. The cross sections are compared with predictions from a re-scattering model. In a framework of vector meson dominance, the data are consistent with the total ϕ-N cross section σ_{ϕN} at about 10 mb. If vector meson dominance is violated, a larger σ_{ϕN} is possible by introducing larger t-slope for the ϕN \…
The first experimental investigation of the near-threshold cross section for incoherent $π^-$ photoproduction on the deuteron $γ$ d -> $π^-$ pp is presented. The experimental technique involved detection of the ~131 MeV gamma ray resulting from the radiative capture of photoproduced $π^-$ in the target. The total cross section has been measured using an unpolarized tagged-photon beam, a liquid-deuterium target, and three very large NaI(Tl) spectrometers. The data are compared to theoretical models that give insight into the elementary reaction $γ$ n -> $π^-$ p and pion-nucleon and nucleon-nucl…
The total cross sections were measured for coherent double neutral-pion photoproduction on the deuteron at incident energies below 0.9 GeV for the first time. No clear resonance-like behavior is observed in the excitation function for $W_{γd}=2.38$--2.61 GeV, where the $d^*(2380)$ dibaryon resonance observed at COSY is expected to appear. The measured excitation function is consistent with the existing theoretical calculation for this reaction. The upper limit of the total cross section is found to be $0.034$~$μ$b for the dibaryon resonance at $W_{γd}=2.37$~GeV (90\% confidence level) in the $…
We report on two pion-photoproduction measurements in the threshold region conducted in the A2 collaboration at MAMI with the almost 4π Crystal Ball detector. The first was with a linearly polarized photon beam and unpolarized liquid-hydrogen target. The data analysis is now complete and the linearly polarized beam asymmetry along with differential cross sections provide the most stringent test to date of the predictions of Chiral Perturbation Theory and its energy region of convergence. More recently, a measurement was performed using both circularly polarized photons and a transversely polar…
Photoproduction of $Λ$(1520) with liquid hydrogen and deuterium targets was examined at photon energies below 2.4 GeV in the SPring-8 LEPS experiment. For the first time, the differential cross sections were measured at low energies and with a deuterium target. A large asymmetry of the production cross sections from protons and neutrons was observed at backward K$^{+/0}$ angles. This suggests the importance of the contact term, which coexists with t-channel K exchange under gauge invariance. This interpretation was compatible with the differential cross sections, decay asymmetry, and photon be…
Quasi-free photoproduction of $η'$ mesons off nucleons bound in the deuteron has been measured with the combined Crystal Barrel - TAPS detector. The experiment was done at a tagged photon beam of the ELSA electron accelerator in Bonn for incident photon energies from the production threshold up to 2.5 GeV. The $η'$-mesons have been detected in coincidence with recoil protons and recoil neutrons. The quasi-free proton data are in good agreement with the results for free protons, indicating that nuclear effects have no significant impact. The coincidence with recoil neutrons provides the first d…
The helicity-dependent single $π^{0}$ photoproduction cross section on the deuteron and the angular dependence of the double polarisation observable $E$ for the quasi-free single $π^0$ production off the proton and the neutron have been measured for the first time from the threshold region up to the photon energy 1.4 GeV. The experiment was performed at the tagged photon facility of the MAMI accelerator and used a circularly polarised photon beam and longitudinally polarised deuteron target. The reaction products were detected using the large acceptance Crystal Ball/TAPS calorimeter, which cov…
We study $η$ photoproduction off the deuteron ($γd\toηpn$) at a special kinematics: $\sim 0.94$ GeV of the photon beam energy and $\sim 0^\circ$ of the scattering angle of the proton. This kinematics is ideal to extract the low-energy $η$-nucleon scattering parameters such as $a_{ηN}$ (scattering length) and $r_{ηN}$ (effective range) because the $η$-nucleon elastic scattering is significantly enhanced. We show that if a ratio $R$, the $γd\toηpn$ cross section divided by the $γp\toηp$ cross section convoluted with the proton momentum distribution in the deuteron, is measured with 5% error, ${\…
We report measurements of differential cross sections and decay asymmetries of incoherent $ϕ$-meson photoproduction from the deuteron at forward angles using linearly polarized photons at \Eg=1.5-2.4 GeV. The nuclear transparency ratio for the deuteron shows a large suppression, and is consistent with the A-dependence of the ratio observed in a previous measurement with nuclear targets. The reduction for the deuteron cannot be adequately explained in term of isospin asymmetry. The present results suggest the need of refining our understanding of the $ϕ$-N interaction within a nucleus.
In an exclusive measurement of the reaction $γd \to K^+ K^- p n$, a narrow peak that can be attributed to an exotic baryon with strangeness $S=+1$ is seen in the $K^+n$ invariant mass spectrum. The peak is at $1.542\pm 0.005$ GeV/c$^2$ with a measured width of 0.021 GeV/c$^2$ FWHM, which is largely determined by experimental mass resolution. The statistical significance of the peak is $5.2 \pm 0.6 σ$. The mass and width of the observed peak are consistent with recent reports of a narrow $S=+1$ baryon by other experimental groups.
Precise data for quasi-free photoproduction of $η$ mesons off the deuteron have been measured at the Bonn ELSA accelerator with the combined Crystal Barrel/TAPS detector for incident photon energies up to 2.5 GeV. The $η$-mesons have been detected in coincidence with recoil protons and neutrons. Possible nuclear effects like Fermi motion and re-scattering can be studied via a comparison of the quasi-free reaction off the bound proton to $η$-production off the free proton. No significant effects beyond the folding of the free cross section with the momentum distribution of the bound protons hav…
Beam-helicity asymmetries for the two-pion-photoproduction reaction gamma + p --> p pi+ pi- have been studied for the first time in the resonance region for center-of-mass energies between 1.35 GeV 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 a…
Coherent photoproduction of the neutral pion and eta meson on the deuteron, $γ{d}${$\to$}$π^0η{d}$, has been experimentally studied at incident photon energies ranging from the reaction threshold to 1.15 GeV. The total cross section demonstrates a rapid rise below 1 GeV. The data are underestimated by the existing theoretical calculations based on quasi-free $π^0 η$ photoproduction on the nucleon followed by deuteron coalescence. At the same time, the data are rather well reproduced by the calculations taking into account the final-state interaction. We have also measured for the first time th…
Gluon density and its distributions inside nuclei and the parton modification of bounded nucleons inside a nucleus, are some of the main standing problems in nuclear and particle physics. In recent years, ultra-peripheral collisions (UPC) of heavy ions have provided a new way of probing the gluon density, which is based on coherent diffractive vector-meson productions, e.g., $J/ψ$ meson. For heavy ions, e.g., Pb, the gluon density is found to be significantly suppressed through the UPC $J/ψ$ measurement, suggesting a strong gluon shadowing effect in heavy nuclei. In this analysis, we aim to lo…
Beam asymmetries for the reactions gamma p -> p pi0 and gamma p -> n pi+ have been measured with the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) and a tagged, linearly polarized photon beam with energies from 1.102 to 1.862 GeV. A Fourier moment technique for extracting beam asymmetries from experimental data is described. The results reported here possess greater precision and finer energy resolution than previous measurements. Our data for both pion reactions appear to favor the SAID and Bonn-Gatchina scattering analyses over the older Mainz MAID predictions. After incorporating the present s…
Polarized electron-deuteron DIS with spectator proton tagging offers a way of measuring the neutron spin structure functions with maximal theoretical control of nuclear effects. We calculate the nuclear structure factors in the longitudinal double-spin asymmetries using methods of light-front nuclear structure. A unique feature of the spin-1 system is that spin asymmetries can be formed either relative to the cross section in all three spin states ($λ_d = \pm 1, 0$) or in the two maximum-spin states only ($\pm 1$, involving tensor polarization). We find that the two-state deuteron spin asymmet…
Quasi-free photoproduction of $η$-mesons has been measured off nucleons bound in $^3$He nuclei for incident photon energies from the threshold region up to 1.4 GeV. The experiment was performed at the tagged photon facility of the Mainz MAMI accelerator with an almost $4π$ covering electromagnetic calorimeter, combining the TAPS and Crystal Ball detectors. The $η$-mesons were detected in coincidence with the recoil nucleons. This allowed a comparison of the production cross section off quasi-free protons and quasi-free neutrons and a full kinematic reconstruction of the final state, eliminatin…
Beam-helicity asymmetries have been measured at the MAMI accelerator in Mainz in the three isospin channels $\vecγp\to π^{+}π^0n$, $\vecγp\to π^{0}π^0p$ and $\vecγp\to π^{+}π^{-}p$ . The circularly polarized photons, produced from bremsstrahlung of longitudinally polarized electrons, were tagged with the Glasgow magnetic spectrometer. Charged pions and the decay photons of $π^0$ mesons were detected in a $~4π$ electromagnetic calorimeter which combined the Crystal Ball detector with the TAPS detector. The precisely measured asymmetries are very sensitive to details of the production processes …
Differential cross sections and decay asymmetries for coherent $ϕ$-meson photoproduction from deuterons were measured for the first time at forward angles using linearly polarized photons at $E_γ$= 1.5-2.4 GeV. This reaction offers a unique way to directly access natural-parity Pomeron dynamics and gluon exchange at low energies. The cross sections at zero degrees increase with increasing photon energy. The decay asymmetries demonstrate a complete dominance of natural-parity exchange processes, showing that isovector unnatural-parity $π$-meson exchange is small. Nevertheless the deduced cross …
The GlueX experiment is a photoproduction experiment located at Thomas Jefferson National Lab in Newport News, Virginia. GlueX is capable of making beam asymmetry ($Σ$) measurements using a tagged, linearly-polarized 9 GeV photon beam incident on a hydrogen target. Measurements of the beam asymmetry for the exclusive reactions $γp \rightarrow π^0 p$, $γp \rightarrow ηp$ and $γp \rightarrow η' p$ will provide insight into the meson production mechanisms. GlueX measurements are the first beam asymmetry results for the $η$ and $η'$ in this energy range and are expected to further constrain Regge …
We discuss the procedure of extracting the photoproduction cross section for neutral pseudoscalar mesons off neutrons from deuteron data. The main statement is that the final-state interaction (FSI) corrections for the proton and neutron target are in general not equal, but for pi0 production there are special cases were they have to be identical and there are large regions in the parameter space of incident photon energy and pion polar angle, θ^*, where they happen to be quite similar. The corrections for both target nucleons are practically identical for $π_0$ production in the energy range …
Quasi-free photoproduction of $πη$-pairs has been investigated from threshold up to incident photon energies of 1.4 GeV, respectively up to photon-nucleon invariant masses up to 1.9 GeV. Total cross sections, angular distributions, invariant-mass distributions of the $πη$ and meson-nucleon pairs, and beam-helicity asymmetries have been measured for the reactions $γp\rightarrow pπ^0η$, $γn\rightarrow nπ^0η$, $γp\rightarrow nπ^+η$, and $γn\rightarrow pπ^-η$ from nucleons bound inside the deuteron. For the $γp$ initial state data for free protons have also been analyzed. Finally, the total cross …
The first measurements of the beam-target-helicity-asymmetries $E$ and $G$ in the photoproduction of $ω$-mesons off protons at the CBELSA/TAPS experiment are reported. $E$ ($G$) was measured using circularly (linearly) polarised photons and a longitudinally polarised target. $E$ was measured over the photon energy range from close to threshold ($E_γ= 1108$~MeV) to $E_γ= 2300$~MeV and $G$ at a single energy interval of $1108 < E_γ<1300$~MeV. Both measurements cover the full solid angle. The observables $E$ and $G$ are highly sensitive to the contribution of baryon resonances, with $E$ acting as…
We develop a reaction model for $η$ photoproduction off the deuteron ($γd\toηpn$), and study the reaction at a special kinematics, where the photon beam energy is $\sim 0.94$ GeV and the scattered proton is detected at $\sim 0^\circ$, for the purpose of determining the $η$-nucleon scattering length ($a_{ηN}$) and effective range ($r_{ηN}$). In this kinematics, the $η$-nucleon elastic rescattering is significantly enhanced while other background mechanisms being suppressed. We show that a ratio $R$, the $γd\toηpn$ cross section divided by the $γp\toηp$ cross section convoluted with the proton m…
We have carried out exclusive measurements for the photoproduction of an $η$ meson from a proton target with an egg-shaped calorimeter made of BGO crystals (BGOegg) and forward charged-particle detectors at the SPring-8 LEPS2 beamline. The differential cross sections and photon beam asymmetries of the $γp \to ηp$ reaction are measured in a center-of-mass energy ($W$) range of $1.82$-$2.32$ GeV and a polar angle range of $-1.0 < \cos{θ^η_{\mathrm{c.m.}}} < 0.6$. The reaction is identified by selecting a proton and two $γ$'s produced by an $η$-meson decay. The kinematic fit method was employed t…
The LEPS/SPring-8 experiment made a comprehensive measurement of the spin-density matrix elements for $γp \to ϕp$, $γd \to ϕp n$ and $γd \to ϕd$ at forward production angles. A linearly polarized photon beam at $E_γ$=1.6-2.4 GeV was used for the production of $ϕ$ mesons. The natural-parity Pomeron exchange processes remains dominant nearthreshold. The unnatural-parity processes of pseudoscalar exchange is visible in the production from nucleons but is greatly reduced in the coherent production from deuterons. There is no strong $E_γ$-dependence, but some dependence on momentum-transfer. A smal…
Possibilities of observing a signal of an $η^{\prime} n$ bound state are investigated by considering photoproductions of the $η$ and $η^{\prime}$ mesons on a deuteron target with forward proton emission. For this purpose, we take the $η^{\prime} n$ interaction from the linear sigma model with a coupling to $ηn$, in which an $s$-wave $η^{\prime} n$ bound state can be dynamically generated, and we fix the $γp \to ηp$ and $η^{\prime} p$ scattering amplitudes so as to reproduce the experimental cross sections with forward proton emission. By using these $γp \to η^{( \prime )} p$ and $η^{( \prime )…
The incoherent pion photoproduction reaction gd-->pi-pp is considered theoretically in a wide energy region Eth =< Eg =< 2700 MeV. The model applied contains the impulse approximation as well as the NN- and piN-FSI amplitudes. The aim of the paper is to study a reliable way for getting the information on elementary gn-->pi-p reaction cross section beyond the impulse approximation for gd-->pi-pp. For the elementary gN-->piN, NN-->NN, and piN-->piN amplitudes, the results of the GW DAC are used. There are no additional theoretical constraints. The calculated cross section dSigma/dOmega(gd->pi-pp…
Differential cross sections and beam asymmetries for coherent π^\circ photoproduction from ^4He in the Δenergy-range have been measured with high statistical and systematic precisions using both decay photons for identifying the process.The experiment was performed at the MAinz MIcrotron using the TAPS photon spectrometer and the Glasgow/Mainz tagged photon facility. The differential cross sections are in excellent agreement with predictions based on the DWIA if an appropriate parametrization of the Δ-nuclear interaction is applied. The beam asymmetries are interpreted in terms of degrees of l…
We discuss the possibility of extracting the neutron-neutron scattering length $a_{nn}$ and effective range $r_{nn}$ from cross section data ($d^2σ/dM_{nn}/dΩ_π$), as a function of the $nn$ invariant mass $M_{nn}$, for $π^+$ photoproduction on the deuteron ($γd\to π^+nn$). The analysis is based on a $γd\to π^+nn$ reaction model in which realistic elementary amplitudes for $γp\to π^+n$, $NN\to NN$, and $πN\to πN$ are built in. We show that $M_{nn}$ dependence (lineshape) of a ratio $R_{\rm th}$, $d^2σ/dM_{nn}/dΩ_π$ normalized by $dσ/dΩ_π$ for $γp\toπ^+ n$ and the nucleon momentum distribution i…
Polarized electron-deuteron deep-inelastic scattering (DIS) with detection of the spectator proton ("tagged DIS") enables measurements of neutron spin structure with maximal control of nuclear effects. We calculate the longitudinal spin asymmetries in polarized tagged DIS using methods of light-front nuclear structure and study their dependence on the measured proton momentum. Asymmetries can be formed with all three deuteron spin states ($\pm 1, 0$) or the two maximum-spin states only ($\pm 1$, involving tensor polarization). The proton momentum dependence can be used to select pure S-wave co…
An improved procedure is suggested for finding the total photoabsorption cross section on the neutron from data on the deuteron at energies < 1.5 GeV. It includes unfolding of smearing effects caused by Fermi motion of nucleons in the deuteron and also takes into account non-additive contributions to the deuteron cross section due to final-state interactions of particles in single and double pion photoproduction. This procedure is applied to analysis of existing data.
We study vector meson photoproduction from the deuteron at high momentum transfer, accompanied by break-up of the deuteron into a proton and neutron. The large $-t$ involved allows one of the nucleons to be identified as struck, and the other as a spectator to the $γN\rightarrow VN$ subprocess. Corrections to the plane wave impulse approximation involve final state interactions (FSIs) between the struck nucleon or the vector meson, either of which is energetic, with the slow spectator nucleon. In this regime, the eikonal approximation is valid, so is employed to calculate the cross-section for…
A review of our works providing a theoretical description of incoherent pion photoproduction on the deuteron is presented. The existing $γd\toπNN$ data are analysed, especially those obtained more recently by the CLAS Collaboration at JLab, the A2 Collaboration at MAMI at Mainz, and the PION@MAX-lab Collaboration at Lund. A procedure, which accounts for the final state interactions (FSI), is applied to extract $γn\toπN$ differential cross sections from the deuteron data. The role of FSI is discussed. We also comment on the results of other works in connection with some discrepancies seen in co…
We present new data for the transverse target asymmetry T and the very first data for the beam-target asymmetry F in the $\vec γ\vec p\toηp$ reaction up to a center-of-mass energy of W=1.9 GeV. The data were obtained with the Crystal-Ball/TAPS detector setup at the Glasgow tagged photon facility of the Mainz Microtron MAMI. All existing model predictions fail to reproduce the new data indicating a significant impact on our understanding of the underlying dynamics of $η$ meson photoproduction. The peculiar nodal structure observed in existing T data close to threshold is not confirmed.
We have measured the beam-normal single-spin asymmetries in elastic scattering of transversely polarized electrons from the proton, and performed the first measurement in quasi-elastic scattering on the deuteron, at backward angles (lab scattering angle of 108 degrees) for Q2 = 0.22 GeV^2/c^2 and 0.63 GeV^2/c^2 at beam energies of 362 MeV and 687 MeV, respectively. The asymmetry arises due to the imaginary part of the interference of the two-photon exchange amplitude with that of single photon exchange. Results for the proton are consistent with a model calculation which includes inelastic int…
