Search NASA⌕ Search

Engineering topics

Hicks, K.

Publications and source records attributed to Hicks, K..

At least 37 records · Page 2

First measurement of direct photoproduction of the a 2 (1320) 0 meson on the proton

We present the first measurement of the reaction γ p → a 2 ( 1320 ) 0 p in the photon energy range 3.5– 5.5 Ge V and four-momentum transfer squared 0.2 < - t < 2.0 Ge V 2 . Data were collected with the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer detector at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. The a 2 resonance was detected by measuring the reaction γ p → π 0 η p and reconstructing the π 0 η invariant mass. The most prominent feature of the differential cross section is a dip at -t ≈ 0.55 Ge V 2 . This can be described in the framework of Regge phenomenology, where the exchange degeneracy hypothesis predicts a zero in the reaction amplitude for this value of the four-momentum transfer.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

High- K , two-quasiparticle states in Gd 160

Excited states in Gd 160 were populated via β decay from the low- and high-spin isomers in Eu 160 . The high-spin, K π = 5 - state feeds several two-quasiparticle levels, as well as a sequence associated with a γ vibration and a K π = 4 + , hexadecapole vibrational structure. The decay scheme was significantly improved with the observation of new transitions and states when compared with the two competing level schemes from over four decades ago. Configuration assignments for some of the multiquasiparticle levels have been suggested, based upon decay properties, systematics from neighboring nuclei, and comparisons with theoretical calculations. Finally, in addition, 15 new low-spin states and approximately 60 new transitions were observed resulting from the decay of the low-spin Eu 160 isomer.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

The CLAS12 forward electromagnetic calorimeter

The CLAS12 Forward Detector includes six independent lead-scintillator electromagnetic sampling calorimeters to provide the primary electron trigger and extend the CLAS12 detection capability to photons and neutrons. Each calorimeter package consists of two modules, the legacy Electromagnetic Calorimeter (EC) previously used in the CLAS detector, and a new pre-shower calorimeter (PCAL) located in front of the EC to extend the total detector radiation length, in order to fully absorb the electromagnetic showers induced by electrons with energies up to 12 GeV. Both calorimeters use a novel triangular hodoscope geometry with stereo readout. The PCAL uses an upgraded design to provide the high spatial resolution necessary for reconstructing π 0 and η decays, and neutrons with high efficiency. Here, this paper treats the design, construction, and calibration of the PCAL and the preliminary combined performance of both detectors.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

The CLAS12 Forward Tagger

This document presents the technical layout and the performance of the CLAS12 Forward Tagger (FT). The FT, composed of an electromagnetic calorimeter based on PbWO$_4$ crystals (FT-Cal), a scintillation hodoscope (FT-Hodo), and several layers of Micromegas trackers (FT-Trk), has been designed to detect electrons and photons scattered at polar angles from 2$^\circ$ to 5$^\circ$ and to meet the physics goals of the hadron spectroscopy program and other experiments running with the CLAS12 spectrometer in Hall B.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Exclusive π 0 p electroproduction off protons in the resonance region at photon virtualities 0.4 GeV 2 ≤ Q 2 ≤ 1 GeV 2

The limited electroproduction process e p → e ' p ' π 0 was measured in the range of photon virtualities Q 2 = 0.4 – 1.0 GeV 2 and the invariant mass range of the p π 0 system of W = 1.1 – 1.8 GeV. These kinematics are covered in exclusive π 0 electroproduction off the proton with nearly complete angular coverage in the p π 0 center-of-mass system and with high statistical accuracy. Nearly 36 000 cross-section points were measured, and the structure functions σ T + ε σ L , σ L T , and σ T T , were extracted via fitting the φ π 0 dependence of the cross section. A Legendre polynomial expansion analysis demonstrates the sensitivity of our data to high-lying N * and Δ * resonances with M > 1.6 GeV. As part of a broad effort to determine the electrocouplings of the N * and Δ * resonances using both single- and double-pion electroproduction, this dataset is key for the reliable extraction of the high-lying resonance electrocouplings from the combined isospin analysis of the N π and π + π - p channels.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Exploring the Structure of the Bound Proton with Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering

In the past two decades, deeply virtual Compton scattering of electrons has been successfully used to advance our knowledge of the partonic structure of the free proton and investigate correlations between the transverse position and the longitudinal momentum of quarks inside the nucleon. Meanwhile, the structure of bound nucleons in nuclei has been studied in inclusive deep-inelastic lepton scattering experiments off nuclear targets, showing a significant difference in longitudinal momentum distribution of quarks inside the bound nucleon, known as the EMC effect. In this work, we report the first beam spin asymmetry (BSA) measurement of exclusive deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) off a proton bound in $^4$He. The data used here were accumulated using a $6$ GeV longitudinally polarized electron beam incident on a pressurized $^4$He gaseous target placed within the CLAS spectrometer in Hall-B at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. Here, the azimuthal angle ($\phi$) dependence of the BSA was studied in a wide range of virtual photon and scattered proton kinematics. The $Q^2$, $x_B$, and t dependencies of the BSA on the bound proton are compared with those on the free proton. In the whole kinematical region of our measurements, the BSA on the bound proton is smaller by 20\% to 40\%, indicating possible medium modification of its partonic structure.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Direct Observation of Proton-Neutron Short-Range Correlation Dominance in Heavy Nuclei

We measured the triple coincidence$ A(e,e'np)$ and $A(e,e'pp)$ reactions on carbon, aluminum, iron, and lead targets at $Q$ 2 > 1.5 (GeV/c) 2 , $x$ $B$ > 1.1 and missing momentum > 400 MeV/c. This was the first direct measurement of both proton-proton (pp) and neutron-proton (np) short-range correlated (SRC) pair knockout from heavy asymmetric nuclei. For all measured nuclei, the average proton-proton ($pp$) to neutron-proton ($np$) reduced cross-section ratio is about 6%, in agreement with previous indirect measurements. Correcting for Single-Charge Exchange effects decreased the SRC pairs ratio to ~ 3%, which is lower than previous results. Comparisons to theoretical Generalized Contact Formalism (GCF) cross-section calculations show good agreement using both phenomenological and chiral nucleon-nucleon potentials, favoring a lower $pp$ to $np$ pair ratio. The ability of the GCF calculation to describe the experimental data using either phenomenological or chiral potentials suggests possible reduction of scale- and scheme-dependence in cross section ratios. Our results also support the high-resolution description of high-momentum states being predominantly due to nucleons in SRC pairs.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

First Measurements of the Double-Polarization Observables F , P , and H in ω Photoproduction off Transversely Polarized Protons in the N * Resonance Region

First measurements of double-polarization observables in ${\omega}$ photoproduction off the proton are presented here using transverse target polarization and data from the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) FROST experiment at Jefferson Lab. The beam-target asymmetry $F$ has been measured using circularly polarized, tagged photons in the energy range 1200–2700 MeV, and the beam-target asymmetries $H$ and $P$ have been measured using linearly polarized, tagged photons in the energy range 1200–2000 MeV. These measurements significantly increase the database on polarization observables. The results are included in two partial-wave analyses and reveal significant contributions from several nucleon (${N}^{*}$) resonances. In particular, contributions from new ${N}^{*}$ resonances listed in the Review of Particle Properties are observed, which aid in reaching the goal of mapping out the nucleon resonance spectrum.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

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↗

Beam-target helicity asymmetry E in K 0 Λ and K 0 Σ 0 photoproduction on the neutron

Here, we report the first measurements of the $E$ beam-target helicity asymmetry for the $\vec{\gamma} \vec{n} \to K^{0}\Lambda$, and $K^{0}\Sigma^{0}$ channels in the energy range of 1.70$\leq W\leq$2.34 GeV. The CLAS system at Jefferson Lab used a circularly polarized photon beam and a target consisting of longitudinally polarized solid molecular hydrogen deuteride (HD) with low background contamination for the measurements. Comparisons with predictions from the KaonMAID, SAID, and Bonn-Gatchina models are presented. These results will help separate the isospin $I=0$ and $I=1$ photo-coupling transition amplitudes in pseudoscalar meson photoproduction.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Center of Mass Motion of Short-Range Correlated Nucleon Pairs studied via the A ( e , e ' p p ) Reaction

Short-Range Correlated (SRC) nucleon pairs are a vital part of the nucleus, accounting for almost all nucleons with momentum greater than the Fermi momentum (k F ). A fundamental characteristic of SRC pairs is having large relative momenta as compared to k F , and smaller center-of-mass (c.m.) which indicates a small separation distance between the nucleons in the pair. Determining the c.m. momentum distribution of SRC pairs is essential for understanding their formation process. We report here on the extraction of the c.m. motion of proton-proton (pp) SRC pairs in Carbon and, for the first time in heavier and ansymetric nuclei: aluminum, iron, and lead, from measurements of the A(e,e'pp) reaction. Here, we find that the pair c.m. motion for these nuclei can be described by a three-dimensional Gaussian with a narrow width ranging from 140 to 170 MeV/c, approximately consistent with the sum of two mean-field nucleon momenta. Comparison with calculations appears to show that the SRC pairs are formed from mean-field nucleons in specific quantum states.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Measurements of the γ v p → p ' π + π - cross section with the CLAS detector for 0.4 GeV 2 < Q 2 < 1.0 GeV 2 and 1.3 GeV < W < 1.825 GeV

New results on the single-differential and fully-integrated cross sections for the process $\gamma_{v} p \rightarrow p' \pi^{+} \pi^{-}$ are presented. The experimental data were collected with the CLAS detector at Jefferson Laboratory. Measurements were carried out in the kinematic region of the reaction invariant mass $W$ from 1.3 to 1.825 GeV and the photon virtuality $Q^2$ from 0.4 to 1.0~GeV$^2$. The cross sections were obtained in narrow $Q^{2}$ bins (0.05 GeV$^{2}$) with the smallest statistical uncertainties achieved in double-pion electroproduction experiments to date. The results were found to be in agreement with previously available data where they overlap. A preliminary interpretation of the extracted cross sections, which was based on a phenomenological meson-baryon reaction model, revealed substantial relative contributions from nucleon resonances. The data offer promising prospects to improve knowledge on the $Q^{2}$ evolution of the electrocouplings of most resonances with masses up to $\sim$1.8~GeV.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗