A technique is presented for precision measurements of the area densities, density * T, of approximately 5% radiation length carbon and 208Pb targets used in an experiment at Jefferson Laboratory to measure the neutral pion radiative width. The precision obtained in the area density for the carbon target is +/- 0.050%, and that obtained for the lead target through an x-ray attenuation technique is +/- 0.43%.
High precision measurements of the differential cross sections for $pi^0$ photoproduction at forward angles for two nuclei, $^{12}$C and $^{208}$Pb, have been performed for incident photon energies of 4.9 - 5.5 GeV to extract the ${pi^0 to gammagamma}$ decay width. The experiment was done at Jefferson Lab using the Hall B photon tagger and a high-resolution multichannel calorimeter. The ${pi^0 to gammagamma}$ decay width was extracted by fitting the measured cross sections using recently updated theoretical models for the process. The resulting value for the decay width is $Gamma{(pi^0 to gammagamma)} = 7.82 pm 0.14 ~({rm stat.}) pm 0.17 ~({rm syst.}) ~{rm eV}$. With the 2.8% total uncertainty, this result is a factor of 2.5 more precise than the current PDG average of this fundamental quantity and it is consistent with current theoretical predictions.
The standard model predicts that, in addition to a proton, an electron, and an antineutrino, a continuous spectrum of photons is emitted in the $beta$ decay of the free neutron. We report on the RDK II experiment which measured the photon spectrum using two different detector arrays. An annular array of bismuth germanium oxide scintillators detected photons from 14 to 782~keV. The spectral shape was consistent with theory, and we determined a branching ratio of 0.00335 $pm$ 0.00005 [stat] $pm$ 0.00015 [syst]. A second detector array of large area avalanche photodiodes directly detected photons from 0.4 to 14~keV. For this array, the spectral shape was consistent with theory, and the branching ratio was determined to be 0.00582 $pm$ 0.00023 [stat] $pm$ 0.00062 [syst]. We report the first precision test of the shape of the photon energy spectrum from neutron radiative decay and a substantially improved determination of the branching ratio over a broad range of photon energies.
The reaction p(e,e^{prime}pi^+)X^0 was studied with two high resolution magnetic spectrometers to search for narrow baryon resonances. A missing mass resolution of 2.0 MeV was achieved. A search for structures in the mass region of 0.97 < M_{X^0} < 1.06 GeV yielded no significant signal. The yield ratio of p(e,e^{prime}pi^+)X^0/p(e,e^{prime}pi^+)n was determined to be (-0.35 +/- 0.35) times 10^{-3} at 1.004 GeV and (0.34 +/- 0.42) times 10^{-3} at 1.044 GeV.
The NA62 experiment at CERN collected a large sample of charged kaon decays with a highly efficient trigger for decays into electrons in 2007. The kaon beam represents a source of tagged neutral pion decays in vacuum. A measurement of the electromagnetic transition form factor slope of the neutral pion in the time-like region from $1.05times10^6$ fully reconstructed $pi^0$ Dalitz decay is presented. The limits on dark photon production in $pi^0$ decays from the earlier kaon experiment at CERN, NA48/2, are also reported.
Recent experimental and theoretical ideas are laying the ground for a new era in the knowledge of the parton structure of nuclei. We report on two promising directions beyond inclusive deep inelastic scattering experiments, aimed at, among other goals, unveiling the three dimensional structure of the bound nucleon. The 3D structure in coordinate space can be accessed through deep exclusive processes, whose non-perturbative content is parametrized in terms of generalized parton distributions. In this way the distribution of partons in the transverse plane will be obtained, providing a pictorial view of the realization of the European Muon Collaboration effect. In particular, we show how, through the generalized parton distribution framework, non nucleonic degrees of freedom in nuclei can be unveiled. Analogously, the momentum space 3D structure can be accessed by studying transverse momentum dependent parton distributions in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering processes. The status of measurements is also summarized, in particular novel coincidence measurements at high luminosity facilities, such as Jefferson Laboratory. Finally the prospects for the next years at future facilities, such as the 12~GeV Jefferson Laboratory and the Electron Ion Collider, are presented.