Browsing by Author "Anefalos Pereira, S."

The CLAS detector was used to obtain the first ever measurement of the electromagnetic decay of the Σ*⁺(1385) from the reaction γp → K⁰Σ*⁺(1385). A real photon beam with a maximum energy of 3.8 GeV was incident on a liquid-hydrogen target, resulting in the photoproduction of the kaon and Σ* hyperon. Kinematic fitting was used to separate the reaction channel from the background processes. The fitting algorithm exploited a new method to kinematically fit neutrons in the CLAS detector, leading to the measured decay widths ratio: Γ(Σ⁺(1385) → Σ⁺γ) / Γ(Σ⁺(1385) → Σ⁺π⁰) = 11.95 ± 2.21 (stat) ⁺⁰.⁵³₋₁.₂₁ (sys) % and a deduced partial width of: Γ(Σ⁺(1385) → Σ⁺γ) = 250.0 ± 56.9 (stat) ⁺³⁴.³₋₄₁.² (sys) keV A U-spin symmetry test using the SU(3) flavor-multiplet representation yields predictions for the Σ*⁺(1385) → Σ⁺γ and Σ*⁰(1385) → Λγ partial widths that agree with the experimental measurements.

Unpolarized and beam-polarized fourfold cross sections ðd4σ=dQ2dxBdtdϕÞ for the ep → e0 p0 γ reaction were measured using the CLAS detector and the 5.75-GeV polarized electron beam of the Jefferson Lab accelerator, for 110 (Q2; xB; t) bins over the widest phase space ever explored in the valencequark region. Several models of generalized parton distributions (GPDs) describe the data well at most of our kinematics. This increases our confidence that we understand the GPD H, expected to be the dominant contributor to these observables. Through a leading-twist extraction of Compton form factors, these results support the model predictions of a larger nucleon size at lower quark-momentum fraction xB.

We have measured cross sections for the 3He ! pd reaction at photon energies of 0.4–1.4 GeV and a center-of-mass angle of 90 . We observe dimensional scaling above 0.7 GeV at this center-of-mass angle. This is the first observation of dimensional scaling in the photodisintegration of a nucleus heavier than the deuteron

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 → e0 p0 γ events, which arise from the interference of the deeply virtual Compton scattering and the Bethe-Heitler processes, were extracted over the widest kinematics in Q2, xB, t, and ϕ, for 166 four-dimensional bins. In the framework of generalized parton distributions, at leading twist the t dependence of these asymmetries provides insight into the spatial distribution of the axial charge of the proton, which appears to be concentrated in its center. These results also bring important and necessary constraints for the existing parametrizations of chiral-even generalized parton distributions.

The photoproduction of ω mesons off the proton has been studied in the reaction γp → pω using the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) and the frozen-spin target in Hall B at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. For the first time, the target asymmetry T has been measured in photoproduction from the decay ω → π⁺π⁻π⁰, using a transversely polarized target with energies ranging from just above the reaction threshold up to 2.8 GeV. Significant nonzero values are observed for these asymmetries, reaching about 30–40% in the third-resonance region. New measurements for the photon-beam asymmetry are also presented, which agree well with previous CLAS results and extend the world database up to 2.1 GeV. These data and additional ω photoproduction observables from CLAS were included in a partial-wave analysis within the Bonn-Gatchina framework. Significant contributions from s-channel resonance production were found in addition to t-channel exchange processes.

The reaction 𝛾+𝑝→𝐾++𝛴+𝜋 was used to determine the invariant mass distributions or “line shapes” of the 𝛴+⁢𝜋−, 𝛴−⁢𝜋+, and 𝛴0⁢𝜋0 final states, from threshold at 1328 MeV/𝑐2 through the mass range of the 𝛬⁡(1405) and the 𝛬⁡(1520). The measurements were made with the CLAS system at Jefferson Lab using tagged real photons, for center-of-mass energies 1.95<𝑊<2.85 GeV. The three mass distributions differ strongly in the vicinity of the 𝐼=0 𝛬⁡(1405), indicating the presence of substantial 𝐼=1 strength in the reaction. Background contributions to the data from the 𝛴0⁡(1385) and from 𝐾*⁢𝛴 production were studied and shown to have negligible influence. To separate the isospin amplitudes, Breit-Wigner model fits were made that included channel-coupling distortions due to the Math output error threshold. A best fit to all the data was obtained after including a phenomenological 𝐼=1, 𝐽𝑃=1/2− amplitude with a centroid at 1394±20 MeV/𝑐2 and a second 𝐼=1 amplitude at 1413±10 MeV/𝑐2. The centroid of the 𝐼=0 𝛬⁡(1405) strength was found at the 𝛴⁢𝜋 threshold, with the observed shape determined largely by channel coupling, leading to an apparent overall peak near 1405 MeV/𝑐2.

We report the measurement of near-threshold neutral pion electroproduction cross sections and the extraction of the associated structure functions on the proton in the kinematic range Q2 from 2 to 4.5 GeV2 and W from 1.08 to 1.16 GeV. These measurements allow us to access the dominant pion-nucleon s-wave multipoles E0+ and S0+ in the near-threshold region. In the light-cone sum-rule framework (LCSR), these multipoles are related to the generalized form factors Gπ0p 1 (Q2) and Gπ0p 2 (Q2). The data are compared to these generalized form factors and the results for Gπ0p 1 (Q2) are found to be in good agreement with the LCSR predictions, but the level of agreement with Gπ0p 2 (Q2) is poor.

The inclusive polarized structure functions of the proton and deuteron, g1p and g1d, were measured with high statistical precision using polarized 6 GeV electrons incident on a polarized ammonia target in Hall B at Jefferson Laboratory. Electrons scattered at lab angles between 18 and 45 degrees were detected using the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS). For the usual DIS kinematics, Q^2>1 GeV^2 and the final-state invariant mass W>2 GeV, the ratio of polarized to unpolarized structure functions g1/F1 is found to be nearly independent of Q^2 at fixed x. Significant resonant structure is apparent at values of W up to 2.3 GeV. In the framework of perturbative QCD, the high-W results can be used to better constrain the polarization of quarks and gluons in the nucleon, as well as high-twist contributions.

We present precision measurements of the target and beam-target spin asymmetries from neutral pion electroproduction in deep-inelastic scattering (DIS) using the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) at Jefferson Lab. We scattered 6-GeV, longitudinally polarized electrons off longitudinally polarized protons in a cryogenic 14NH3 target, and extracted double and single target spin asymmetries for ep → e π0 X in multidimensional bins in four-momentum transfer (1.0 < Q 2 < 3.2 GeV2), Bjorken-x (0.12 < x < 0.48), hadron energy fraction (0.4 < z < 0.7), transverse pion momentum (0 < PT < 1.0 GeV), and azimuthal angle φh between the lepton scattering and hadron production planes. We extracted asymmetries as a function of both x and PT , which provide access to transverse-momentum distributions of longitudinally polarized quarks. The double spin asymmetries depend weakly on PT . The sin 2φh moments are zero within uncertainties, which is consistent with the expected suppression of the Collins fragmentation function. The observed sinφh moments suggest that quark gluon correlations are significant at large x.

Beam-target double-spin asymmetries and target single-spin asymmetries were measured for the exclusive π⁰ electroproduction reaction γp → pπ⁰, expanding an analysis of the γp → nπ⁺ reaction from the same experiment. The results were obtained from scattering of 6-GeV longitudinally polarized electrons off longitudinally polarized protons using the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer at Jefferson Laboratory. The kinematic ranges covered are 1.1 < W < 3 GeV and 1 < Q² < 6 GeV². Results were obtained for about 5700 bins in W, Q², cos(θ*), and φ*. The beam-target asymmetries were found to generally be greater than zero, with relatively modest φ* dependence. The target asymmetries exhibit very strong φ* dependence, with a change in sign occurring between results at low W and high W, in contrast to π⁺ electroproduction. Reasonable agreement is found with phenomenological fits to previous data for W < 1.6 GeV, but significant differences are seen at higher W. When combined with cross-sectional measurements, as well as π⁺ observables, the present results will provide powerful constraints on nucleon resonance amplitudes at moderate and large values of Q², for resonances with masses as high as 2.4 GeV.