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Goetz, J. T.

Publications and source records attributed to Goetz, J. T..

Ξ * photoproduction from threshold to W = 3.3 GeV

Here, the doubly-strange Ξ baryons provide an effective way to study a puzzle called the missing-baryons problem, where both quark models and lattice gauge theory predict more baryon excited states than are seen experimentally. However, few of these excited states have been observed with any certainty. Here, high-mass Ξ states have been searched for in photoproduction with the CLAS detector, and upper limits for the total cross sections have been established from threshold to W = 3.3 GeV. In addition, the total cross sections of the ground state Ξ¯(1320) and first excited state Ξ¯(1530) are presented, extending significantly the center-of-mass energy range of previous data.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Double K S 0 photoproduction off the proton at CLAS

The $f_0$(1500) meson resonance is one of several contenders to have significant mixing with the lightest glueball. This resonance is well established from several previous experiments. Here we present the first photoproduction data for the $f_0$(1500) via decay into the $K_S^0 K_S^0$ channel using the CLAS detector. The reaction $\gamma p$ -> $f_0 p$ -> $K_S^0 K_S^0 p$, where J = 0, 2, was measured with photon energies from 2.7 to 5.1 GeV. A clear peak is seen at 1500 MeV in the background subtracted invariant mass spectra of the two kaons. This is enhanced if the measured 4-momentum transfer to the proton target is restricted to be less than 1.0 GeV2. By comparing data with simulations, it can be concluded that the peak at 1500 MeV is produced primarily at low t, which is consistent with a t-channel production mechanism.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Precise determination of the deuteron spin structure at low to moderate Q 2 with CLAS and extraction of the neutron contribution

In this study, we present the final results for the deuteron spin structure functions obtained from the full data set collected with Jefferson Lab's CLAS in 2000-2001. Polarized electrons with energies of 1.6, 2.5, 4.2 and 5.8 GeV were scattered from deuteron ( 15 ND 3 ) targets, dynamically polarized along the beam direction, and detected with CLAS. From the measured double spin asymmetry, the virtual photon absorption asymmetry A d 1 and the polarized structure function g d 1 were extracted over a wide kinematic range (0.05 GeV2 < Q2 < 5 GeV2 and 0.9 GeV < W < 3 GeV). We use an unfolding procedure and a parametrization of the corresponding proton results to extract from these data the polarized structure functions A n 1 and g 1 n of the (bound) neutron, which are so far unknown in the resonance region, W < 2 GeV. We compare our final results, including several moments of the deuteron and neutron spin structure functions, with various theoretical models and expectations as well as parametrizations of the world data. The unprecedented precision and dense kinematic coverage of these data can aid in future extractions of polarized parton distributions, tests of perturbative QCD predictions for the quark polarization at large x, a better understanding of quark-hadron duality, and more precise values for higher-twist matrix elements in the framework of the Operator Product Expansion.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Measurements of $ep \to e^\prime π^+n$ at W = 1.6 - 2.0 GeV and extraction of nucleon resonance electrocouplings at CLAS

Differential cross sections of the exclusive process $e p \to e^\prime \pi^+ n$ were measured with good precision in the range of the photon virtuality $Q^2 = 1.8 - 4.5$ GeV$^2$, and the invariant mass range of the $\pi^+ n$ final state W = 1.6 - 2.0 GeV using the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer. Data were collected with nearly complete coverage in the azimuthal and polar angles of the $n\pi^+$ center-of-mass system. More than 37,000 cross section points were measured. The contributions of the isospin $I = {1\over 2}$ resonances $N(1675){5\over 2}^-$, $N(1680){5\over 2}^+$ and $N(1710){1\over 2}^+$ were extracted at different values of $Q^2$ using a single-channel, energy-dependent resonance amplitude analysis. Two different approaches, the unitary isobar model and the fixed-$t$ dispersion relations, were employed in the analysis. We observe significant strength of the $N(1675){5\over 2}^-$ in the $A_{1/2}$ amplitude, which is in strong disagreement with quark models that predict both transverse amplitudes to be strongly suppressed. For the $N(1680){5\over 2}^+$ we observe a slow changeover from the dominance of the $A_{3/2}$ amplitude at the real photon point ($Q^2=0$) to a $Q^2$ where $A_{1/2}$ begins to dominate. The scalar amplitude $S_{1/2}$ drops rapidly with $Q^2$ consistent with quark model prediction. For the $N(1710){1\over 2}^+$ resonance our analysis shows significant strength for the $A_{1/2}$ amplitude at $Q^2 < 2.5$ GeV$^2$.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Longitudinal target-spin asymmetries for deeply virtual Compton scattering

A measurement of the electroproduction of photons off protons in the deeply inelastic regime was performed at Jefferson Lab using a nearly 6-GeV electron beam, a longitudinally polarized proton target and the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer. Target-spin asymmetries for ep → e'p'y events, which arise from the interference of the deeply virtual Compton scattering and the Bethe-Heitler processes, were extracted over the widest kinematics in Q 2 , x B , t and Φ, for 166 four-dimensional bins. In the framework of Generalized Parton Distributions (GPDs), at leading twist the t dependence of these asymmetries provides insight on the spatial distribution of the axial charge of the proton, which appears to be concentrated in its center. In conclusion, these results bring important and necessary constraints for the existing parametrizations of chiral-even GPDs.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Momentum sharing in imbalanced Fermi systems

The atomic nucleus is composed of two different kinds of fermions: protons and neutrons. If the protons and neutrons did not interact, the Pauli exclusion principle would force the majority of fermions (usually neutrons) to have a higher average momentum. Our high-energy electron-scattering measurements using C-12, Al-27, Fe-56, and Pb-208 targets show that even in heavy, neutron-rich nuclei, short-range interactions between the fermions form correlated high-momentum neutron-proton pairs. Thus, in neutron-rich nuclei, protons have a greater probability than neutrons to have momentum greater than the Fermi momentum. This finding has implications ranging from nuclear few-body systems to neutron stars and may also be observable experimentally in two-spin-state, ultracold atomic gas systems.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Strangeness suppression of q q ¯ creation observed in exclusive reactions

In this study, we measured the ratios of electroproduction cross sections from a proton target for three exclusive meson-baryon final states: ΛK + , pπ 0 , and nπ + , with the CLAS detector at Jefferson Lab. Using a simple model of quark hadronization, we extract qq¯ creation probabilities for the first time in exclusive two-body production, in which only a single qq¯ pair is created. We observe a sizable suppression of strange quark-antiquark pairs compared to nonstrange pairs, similar to that seen in high-energy production.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Data analysis techniques, differential cross sections, and spin density matrix elements for the reaction γp → Φp

High-statistics measurements of differential cross sections and spin density matrix elements for the reaction γ p → Φp have been made using the CLAS detector at Jefferson Lab. We cover center-of-mass energies (√s) from 1.97 to 2.84 GeV, with an extensive coverage in the Φ production angle. The high statistics of the data sample made it necessary to carefully account for the interplay between the Φ natural lineshape and effects of the detector resolution, that are found to be comparable in magnitude. We study both the charged- (Φ → K⁺K⁻) and neutral- (Φ → K 0 S K 0 L ) $K\bar{K}$ decay modes of the Φ. Further, for the charged mode, we differentiate between the cases where the final K⁻ track is directly detected or its momentum reconstructed as the total missing momentum in the event. The two charged-mode topologies and the neutral-mode have different resolutions and are calibrated against each other. Extensive usage is made of kinematic fitting to improve the reconstructed Φ mass resolution. Our final results are reported in 10- and mostly 30-MeV-wide √s bins for the charged- and the neutral-mode, respectively. Possible effects from K⁺Λ* channels with p$K\bar{K}$ final-states are discussed. These present results constitute the most precise and extensive Φ photoproduction measurements to date and in conjunction with the ω photoproduction results recently published by CLAS, will greatly improve our understanding of low energy vector meson photoproduction.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗