The charge and magnetization distributions of the proton and neutron are encoded in their elastic electromagnetic form factors, which can be measured in elastic electron--nucleon scattering. By measuring the form factors, we probe the spatial distribution of the proton charge and magnetization, providing the most direct connection to the spatial distribution of quarks inside the proton. For decades, the form factors were probed through measurements of unpolarized elastic electron scattering, but by the 1980s, progress slowed dramatically due to the intrinsic limitations of the unpolarized measurements. Early measurements at several laboratories demonstrated the feasibility and power of measurements using polarization degrees of freedom to probe the spatial structure of the nucleon. A program of polarization measurements at Jefferson Lab led to a renaissance in the field of study, and significant new insight into the structure of matter.
We summarize the experimental program of Jefferson Lab that studies the nucleon spin structure at low $Q^2$. This program completes the precise experimental mapping of the nucleon spin structure functions $g_1(ν, Q^2)$ and $g_2(ν, Q^2)$ and their moments started at SLAC, CERN and DESY at high $Q^2$, and continued at Jefferson Lab at intermediate $Q^2$. The results presented cover the domain where Chiral Effective Field Theory ($χ$EFT) should describe the strong interaction. They provide a comprehensive set of benchmark measurements for $χ$EFT. The preliminary conclusion is that nucleon spin st…
We summarize the measurements investigating the nucleon spin structure done at Jefferson Lab, a multi-GeV continuous electron beam facility located in Newport News, Virgina, USA. After motivating spin structure studies, we explain how Jefferson Lab uniquely contributes to them and describe the experimental program that was achieved with energies up to 6 GeV. We then discuss the continuation of this program at the higher energies now available thanks to the recent 12 GeV upgrade of Jefferson Lab's accelerator.
Baryons are complex systems of confined quarks and gluons and exhibit the characteristic spectra of excited states. The systematics of the baryon excitation spectrum is important to our understanding of the effective degrees of freedom underlying nucleon matter. High-energy electrons and photons are a remarkably clean probe of hadronic matter, providing a microscope for examining the nucleon and the strong nuclear force. Current experimental efforts with the CLAS spectrometer at Jefferson Laboratory utilize highly-polarized frozen-spin targets in combination with polarized photon beams. The st…
In order to accept very forward angle scattering particles, Jefferson Lab HKS experiment uses an on-target zero degree dipole magnet. The usual spectrometer optics calibration procedure has to be modified due to this on-target field. This paper describes a new method to calibrate HKS spectrometer system. The simulation of the calibration procedure shows the required resolution can be achieved from initially inaccurate optical description.
Experimental results for photo- and electro-production of open strangeness from the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility are discussed. The results are from work completed by mid-2003 on elementary $KY$ production, nuclear targets, and the exotic $Θ^+$ state. It is shown how the increases in intensity and precision of JLab experiments over earlier work have allowed new phenomena to become measurable.
The strange quark hadrons sit at an important crossroads between the light and heavy quark hadrons, but their spectrum is comparatively poorly known. The KLF experiment was recently approved to run in Hall D of Jefferson Lab, and will use an intense secondary beam of $K_L$ mesons with the existing GlueX spectrometer to collect data several orders of magnitude larger than existing dataset. In this talk, I will discuss the expected physics reach of this experiment and the status of its preparations.
The ratio of the proton form factors, GEp/GMp, has been measured from Q2 of 0.5 GeV2 to 8.5 GeV2, at the Jefferson Laboratory, using the polarization transfer method. This ratio is extracted directly from the measured ratio of the transverse and longitudinal polarization components of the recoiling proton in elastic electron-proton scattering. The discovery that the proton form factor ratio measured in these experiments decreases approximately linearly with four-momentum transfer, Q2, for values above ? 1 GeV2, is one of the most significant results to come out of JLab. These results have had …
We report on the low and moderate Q^2 nucleon spin structure measurements done at Jefferson Lab, examining specifically the inclusive program. We discuss what the data teach us about quark confinement and the emergence of the effective hadronic degrees of freedom from the fundamental partonic ones. We show how this experimental program has reached its goal by providing a precise mapping at low, intermediate and moderately high Q^2 which has followed in many advances, e.g., with Chiral Perturbation Theory. Another example of a recent advance imputable to the JLab spin data is the improved under…
The duality between the partonic and hadronic descriptions of electron--nucleon scattering is a remarkable feature of nuclear interactions. When averaged over appropriate energy intervals the cross section at low energy which is dominated by nucleon resonances resembles the smooth behavior expected from perturbative QCD. Recent Jefferson Lab results indicate that quark-hadron duality is present in a variety of observables, not just the proton F2 structure function. An overview of recent results, especially local quark-hadron duality on the neutron, are presented here.
Updated results of the experiment E94-107 hypernuclear spectroscopy in Hall A of the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab), are presented. The experiment provides high resolution spectra of excitation energy for 12B_Λ, 16N_Λ, and 9Li_Λhypernuclei obtained by electroproduction of strangeness. A new theoretical calculation for 12B_Λ, final results for 16N_Λ, and discussion of the preliminary results of 9Li_Λare reported.
We present the recent JLab measurements on moments of spin structure functions at intermediate and low Q^2. The Bjorken sum and Burkhardt-Cottingham sum on the neutron are presented. The later appears to hold. Higher moments (generalized spin polarizabilities and d_2^n) are shown and compared to chiral perturbation theory and lattice QCD respectively.
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 $^{12}_ΛB$ spectrum. A high-quality $^{16}_ΛN$ spectrum was produced for the first time with sub-MeV energy resolution. A very precise $Λ$ binding…
The physics of the nucleon form factors is a fundamental part of the Jefferson Laboratory program. We review the achievements of the 6-GeV era and the program with the 12- GeV beam with the SBS spectrometer in Hall A, with a focus on the nucleon ground state properties.
After about 10 years of growing interest for Generalized Parton Distributions come the first results from dedicated experiments, using the golden Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering process. After a short introduction, we will explain the experimental methodology andshow results of the Hall A E00-110 experiment, which aimed at measuring helicity-dependent photon electroproduction cross sections. We will enphasize how this experiment provided the first stringent tests of the scaling property of this process, allowing for the first time a model-independent extraction of a linear combination of Gen…
Recent measurements of nucleon resonance transition form factors with CLAS at Jefferson Lab are discussed. The new data confirm the assertion of the symmetric constituent quark model of the Roper as the first radial excitation of the nucleon. For the first time, the longitudinal transition amplitude to the S11(1535) was extracted from the data. New results on the transition amplitudes for the D13(1520) resonance are presented showing a rapid transition from helicity 3/2 dominance seen at the real photon point to helicity 1/2 dominance at higher Q2. I also discuss aspects of the JLab program to…
Future experiments at the Jefferson Lab 12 GeV upgrade, in particular, the Solenoidal Large Intensity Device (SoLID), aim at a very precise data set in the region where the partonic structure of the nucleon is dominated by the valence quarks. One of the main goals is to constrain the quark transversity distributions. We apply recent theoretical advances of the global QCD extraction of the transversity distributions to study the impact of future experimental data from the SoLID experiments. Especially, we develop a simple strategy based on the Hessian matrix analysis that allows one to estimate…
This white paper summarizes the scientific opportunities for utilization of the upgraded 12 GeV Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) and associated experimental equipment at Jefferson Lab. It is based on the 52 proposals recommended for approval by the Jefferson Lab Program Advisory Committee.The upgraded facility will enable a new experimental program with substantial discovery potential to address important topics in nuclear, hadronic, and electroweak physics.
We present measurements of the differential cross section and Lambda recoil polarization for the gamma p to K+ Lambda reaction made using the CLAS detector at Jefferson Lab. These measurements cover the center-of-mass energy range from 1.62 to 2.84 GeV and a wide range of center-of-mass K+ production angles. Independent analyses were performed using the K+ p pi- and K+ p (missing pi -) final-state topologies; results from these analyses were found to exhibit good agreement. These differential cross section measurements show excellent agreement with previous CLAS and LEPS results and offer incr…
The Jefferson Lab facilities have undergone a substantial upgrade, both of accelerator, CEBAF, and of the experimental installations. We will discuss the progress to completion of these facilities, the status of accelerator commissioning, and the recent first operations for physics. We will then flesh out the anticipated exciting physics program of the next several years.
A new tagged photon beam facility is being constructed in experimental Hall-D at Jefferson Lab as a part of the 12 GeV upgrade program. The 9 GeV linearly-polarized photon beam will be produced via coherent Bremsstrahlung using the CEBAF electron beam, incident on a diamond radiator. The GlueX experiment in Hall-D will use this photon beam to search for and study the pattern of gluonic excitations in the meson spectrum produced through photoproduction reactions with a liquid hydrogen target. Recent lattice QCD calculations predict a rich spectrum of hybrid mesons, that are formed by exciting t…
High quality polarized electron beams at Jefferson Lab make possible precision measurements of hadronic properties in the regime of strongly interacting QCD. We will describe a few programs at Jefferson Lab that are making measurements that link the basic static properties of hadrons to their quark sub-structure. For example, parity-violating electron proton elastic scattering probes the spatial distribution of strange quarks in the nucleon. The nucleon-Delta transition form factors give us information about the deformation of nucleons and Deltas. Finally, new high statistics measurements of p…
A precision measurment of inclusive electron scattering cross sections was carried out at Jefferson Lab in the quasi-elastic region for ${^4}$He, ${^{12}}$C, ${^{56}}$Fe and ${^{208}}$Pb targets. Longitudinal ($R_{L}$) and transverse ($R_{T}$) response functions of nucleon were extracted in the momentum transfer range 0.55 GeV/c$\le$$|q|$$\le$1.0 GeV/c. To achieve the above goal, a NaI (Tl) calorimeter was used to distinguish good electrons from background including pions and low energy electrons rescattered from walls of the spectrometer magnets. Due to a large set of kinematics and changes i…
Recent results on studies of the structure of nucleons and nuclei in the regime of strong interaction QCD are discussed. Use of high current polarized electron beams, polarized targets, and recoil polarimeters, in conjunction with modern spectrometers and detector instrumentation allow much more detailed studies of nucleon and nuclear structure than has been possible in the past. The CEBAF accelerator at Jefferson Lab was build to study the internal structure of hadrons in a regime where confinement is important and strong interaction QCD is the relevant theory. I discuss how the first experim…
A brief discussion of the DVCS program at the Jefferson Lab 12 GeV energy upgrade is given. Emphasis is on what can be learned from using both polarized electron and polarized positron beams in conjunction with polarized nucleon targets.
Precise proton and neutron form factor measurements at Jefferson Lab, using spin observables, have recently made a significant contribution to the unraveling of the internal structure of the nucleon. Accurate experimental measurements of the nucleon form factors are a test-bed for understanding how the nucleon's static properties and dynamical behavior emerge from QCD, the theory of the strong interactions between quarks. There has been enormous theoretical progress, since the publication of the Jefferson Lab proton form factor ratio data, aiming at reevaluating the picture of the nucleon. We …
Charge symmetry in hadronic reactions, either verified or violated, appears to be in some circumstances a mandatory guide for model-independent understanding of the structure and dynamics at play. The recent demonstration of the PEPPo concept for the production of polarized positrons opens new physics perspectives at the Jefferson Laboratory. Polarized positron beams, in complement to existing polarized electron beams, are shown to bring multi-Physics opportunities.
Jefferson Lab Experiment E04-001 used the Rosenbluth technique to measure R=σ_{L}/σ_{T} and F_{2} on nuclear targets. This experiment was part of a multilab effort to investigate quark-hadron duality and the electromagnetic and weak structure of the nuclei in the nucleon resonance region. In addition to the studies of quark-hadron duality in electron scattering on nuclear targets, these data will be used as input form factors in future analysis of neutrino data which investigate quark-hadron duality of the nucleon and nuclear axial structure functions. An important goal of this experiment is t…
Over the last three decades, Hall C has been a key contributor to progress in the understanding of hadron structure and interactions. An outline of a potential future Hall C physics program focused on precision measurements of small cross sections is presented. A detailed overview of this unique facility, whose flexible configuration allows many opportunities for new experimental equipment that help address a wide range of questions in hadronic physics, is included as well.
Nucleon transversity and single transverse spin asymmetries have been the recent focus of large efforts by both theorists and experimentalists. On-going and planned experiments from HERMES, COMPASS and RHIC are mostly on the proton or the deuteron. Presented here is a planned measurement of the neutron transversity and single target spin asymmetries at Jefferson Lab in Hall A using a transversely polarized $^3$He target. Also presented are the results and plans of other neutron transverse spin experiments at Jefferson Lab. Finally, the factorization for semi-inclusive DIS studies at Jefferson …
The nucleon spin structure has been an active, exciting and intriguing subject of interest for the last three decades. Recent experimental data on nucleon spin structure at low to intermediate momentum transfers provide new information in the confinement regime and the transition region from the confinement regime to the asymptotic freedom regime. New insight is gained by exploring moments of spin structure functions and their corresponding sum rules (i.e. the generalized Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn, Burkhardt-Cottingham and Bjorken). The Burkhardt-Cottingham sum rule is verified to good accuracy. T…
A cryogenic horizontal single loop target has been designed, built, tested and operated for the G$^0$ experiment in Hall C at Jefferson Lab. The target cell is 20 cm long, the loop volume is 6.5 l and the target operates with the cryogenic pump fully immersed in the fluid. The target has been designed to operate at 30 Hz rotational pump speed with either liquid hydrogen or liquid deuterium. The high power heat exchanger is able to remove 1000 W of heat from the liquid hydrogen, while the nominal electron beam with current of 40 $μ$A and energy of 3 GeV deposits about 320 W of heat into the liq…
The deuteron elastic structure function A(Q^2) has been extracted in the Q^2 range 0.7 to 6.0 (GeV/c)^2 from cross section measurements of elastic electron-deuteron scattering in coincidence using the Hall A Facility of Jefferson Laboratory. The data are compared to theoretical models based on the impulse approximation with inclusion of meson-exchange currents, and to predictions of quark dimensional scaling and perturbative quantum chromodynamics
For the first time, baryon-antibaryon photoproduction in the reaction $γp \to Λ\barΛ p$ has been observed at photon energies from threshold near 4.9 GeV to 11.6 GeV. The measurements are in progress with the GlueX spectrometer in Hall D at Jefferson Lab. We describe here the apparatus and methods used to make these measurements and outline the physics goals of the work. Some of the newly-seen reaction phenomenology is presented.
We renew our intent to submit a proposal to perform a search for a non-zero value of the unmeasured hadronic double helicity flip structure function $Δ(x,Q^2)$, predicted to be sensitive to gluons in the nucleus. This would be performed with an unpolarized electron beam and transversely polarized, spin-1, nuclear target. This structure function was first identified by Jaffe and Manohar in 1989 as "a clear signature for exotic gluonic components in the target," and a recent lattice QCD result by our collaborators has prompted renewed interest in the topic. An inclusive search with deep inelasti…
The Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) and associated experimental equipment at Jefferson Lab comprise a unique facility for experimental nuclear physics. This facility is presently being upgraded, which will enable a new experimental program with substantial discovery potential to address important topics in nuclear, hadronic, and electroweak physics. Further in the future, it is envisioned that the Laboratory will evolve into an electron-ion colliding beam facility.
The AI for Experimental Controls project is developing an AI system to control and calibrate detector systems located at Jefferson Laboratory. Currently, calibrations are performed offline and require significant time and attention from experts. This work would reduce the amount of data and the amount of time spent calibrating in an offline setting. The first use case involves the Central Drift Chamber (CDC) located inside the GlueX spectrometer in Hall D. We use a combination of environmental and experimental data, such as atmospheric pressure, gas temperature, and the flux of incident partic…
The Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) and associated experimental equipment at Jefferson Lab comprise a unique facility for experimental nuclear physics. This facility is presently being upgraded, which will enable a new experimental program with substantial discovery potential to address important topics in nuclear, hadronic, and electroweak physics. Further in the future, it is envisioned that the Laboratory will evolve into an electron-ion colliding beam facility.
The electromagnetic kaon production amplitudes associated to Lambda/Sigma hyperons can be described by phenomenological models, most notably by isobar approaches. Experimental data on kaon production have been collected at ELSA, SPring8, GRAAL, LNS Tohoku, and Jefferson Lab in the past, the measurements at Jefferson Lab providing the largest kinematic coverage and statistical significance. However, ambiguities inherent in the models, some data inconsistency in the cross-sections taken at different laboratories, and the problem of missing acceptance in forward direction of the experimental set-…
An overview of the CLAS12 detector is presented and the initial physics program after the energy-doubling of the Jefferson Lab electron accelerator. Construction of the 12 GeV upgrade project has started October 2008. A broad program has been developed to map the nucleon's 3-dimensional spin and flavor content through the measurement of deeply exclusive and semi-inclusive processes. Other programs include forward distribution function to large $x_{B} \le 0.85$ and of the quark and gluon polarized distribution functions, as well as nucleon ground state and transition form factors at high $Q^2$.…
Long term plans for the investigation of the quark and gluon structure of matter have for some time focussed on the possibility of an electron-ion collider, with the nuclear physics communities associated with JLab and BNL being particularly active. We briefly outline the current thinking on this subject at Jefferson lab.
This paper discusses a selected part of the experimental program dedicated to the study of Generalized Parton Distributions, a recently introduced concept which provides a comprehensive framework for investigations of the partonic structure of the nucleon. Particular emphasis is put on the Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering program performed at the Jefferson Laboratory. The short and long term future of this program is also discussed in the context of the several experimental efforts aiming at a complete and exhaustive mapping of Generalized Parton Distributions.
The radiation and ionization energy loss are presented for single arm Monte Carlo simulation for the GDH sum rule experiment in Hall-A at Jefferson Lab. Radiation and ionization energy loss are discussed for $^{12}C$ elastic scattering simulation. The relative momentum ratio $\frac{Δp}{p}$ and $^{12}C$ elastic cross section are compared without and with Radiation Energy Loss and a reasonable shape is obtained by the simulation. The total energy loss distribution is obtained, showing a Landau shape for $^{12}C$ elastic scattering. This simulation work will give good support for radiation correc…
Recent results from JLab on the electromagnetic excitation of nucleon resonances are presented, and confronted with theoretical predictions. Preliminary data in the search for undiscovered states are discussed as well.
Jefferson Lab (JLab) 12 GeV energy upgrade provides a golden opportunity to perform precision studies of the transverse spin and transverse-momentum-dependent structure in the valence quark region for both the proton and the neutron. In this paper, we focus our discussion on a recently approved experiment on the neutron as an example of the precision studies planned at JLab. The new experiment will perform precision measurements of target Single Spin Asymmetries (SSA) from semi-inclusive electro-production of charged pions from a 40-cm long transversely polarized $^3$He target in Deep-Inelasti…
We present studies of single-spin and double-spin asymmetries in semi-inclusive electroproduction of pions using the CEBAF 6 GeV polarized electron beam. Kinematic dependences of single and double spin asymmetries have been measured in a wide kinematic range at CLAS with a polarized NH$_3$ target. Significant target-spin $\sin2ϕ$ and $\sinϕ$ asymmetries have been observed. The hypothesis of factorization has been tested with $z$-dependence of the double spin asymmetry.
Construction of the 12 GeV upgrade to the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility is presently underway. This upgrade includes doubling the energy of the electron beam to 12 GeV, the addition of a new fourth experimental hall, and the construction of upgraded detector hardware. An overview of this upgrade project is presented, along with highlights of the anticipated experimental program.
Low-energy neutral-current couplings arising in the Standard Model of electroweak interactions can be constrained in lepton scattering off hydrogen or a nuclear fixed target. Recent polarized electron scattering experiments at Jefferson Lab (JLab) have improved the precision in the parity-violating types of effective couplings. On the other hand, the only known way to access the parity-conserving counterparts is to compare scattering cross sections between a lepton and an anti-lepton beam. We review the current knowledge of both types of couplings and how to constrain them. We also present exp…
Recent evidence for the existence of pentaquark $Θ^+$ particle from several experiments at several different laboratories around the world has caused great excitement and raised many unanswered questions. We discuss a new proposal on a high resolution experiment searching for pentaquark states in Hall C at Jefferson Lab using an untagged bremsstrahlung photon beam employing both the hydrogen and the deuterium targets by studying the following processes: $γp \to Θ^{++} K^-$, and $γn \to Θ^+ K^-$. This new experiment will significantly improve our current knowledge of the mass, the width of the …
The cross section for coherent $ω$-meson photoproduction off the deuteron has been measured for the first time as a function of the momentum transfer $t = (P_γ-P_ω)^2$ and photon energy $E_γ$ using the CLAS detector at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. The cross sections are measured in the energy range $1.4 < E_γ < 3.4$ GeV. A model based on $ω-N$ rescattering is consistent with the data at low and intermediate momentum transfer, $|t|$. For $2.8 < E_γ < 3.4$ GeV, the total cross-section of $ω-N$ scattering, based on fits within the framework of the Vector Meson Dominance mod…
Polarization transfer in quasi-elastic nucleon knockout is sensitive to the properties of the nucleon in the nuclear medium, including possible modification of the nucleon form factor and/or spinor. In our recently completed experiment E03-104 at Jefferson Lab we measured the proton recoil polarization in the 4He(e,e'p)3H reaction at a Q^2 of 0.8 (GeV/c)^2 and 1.3 (GeV/c)^2 with unprecedented precision. These data complement earlier data between 0.4 and 2.6 (GeV/c)^2 from both Mainz and Jefferson Lab. The measured ratio of polarization-transfer coefficients differs from a fully relativistic ca…
Polarization transfer in quasi-elastic nucleon knockout is sensitive to the properties of the nucleon in the nuclear medium, including possible modification of the nucleon form factor and/or spinor. In our recently completed experiment E03-104 at Jefferson Lab we measured the proton recoil polarization in the 4He(e,e'p)3H reaction at a Q^2 of 0.8 (GeV/c)^2 and 1.3 (GeV/c)^2 with unprecedented precision. These data complement earlier data between 0.4 and 2.6 (GeV/c)^2 from both Mainz and Jefferson Lab. The measured ratio of polarization-transfer coefficients differs from a fully relativistic ca…
New data on pion-photoproduction off the proton have been included in the partial wave analyses Bonn-Gatchina and SAID and in the dynamical coupled-channel approach Jülich-Bonn. All reproduce the recent new data well: the double polarization data for E, G, H, P and T in $γp \to π^0 p$ from ELSA, the beam asymmetry $Σ$ for $γp \to π^0 p$ and $π^+ n$ from Jefferson Laboratory, and the precise new differential cross section and beam asymmetry data $Σ$ for $γp \to π^0 p$ from MAMI. The new fit results for the multipoles are compared with predictions not taking into account the new data. The mutual…
