No Arabic abstract
We report measurements of the exclusive electroproduction of $K^+Lambda$ and $K^+Sigma^0$ final states from an unpolarized proton target using the CLAS detector at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. The separated structure functions $sigma_U$, $sigma_{LT}$, $sigma_{TT}$, and $sigma_{LT}$ were extracted from the $Phi$-dependent differential cross sections acquired with a longitudinally polarized 5.499 GeV electron beam. The data span a broad range of momentum transfers $Q^2$ from 1.4 to 3.9 GeV$^2$, invariant energy $W$ from threshold to 2.6 GeV, and nearly the full center-of-mass angular range of the kaon. The separated structure functions provide an unprecedented data sample, which in conjunction with other meson photo- and electroproduction data, will help to constrain the higher-level analyses being performed to search for missing baryon resonances.
Exclusive neutral-pion electroproduction ($epto e^prime p^prime pi^0$) was measured at Jefferson Lab with a 5.75-GeV electron beam and the CLAS detector. Differential cross sections $d^4sigma/dtdQ^2dx_Bdphi_pi$ and structure functions $sigma_T+epsilonsigma_L, sigma_{TT}$ and $sigma_{LT}$ as functions of $t$ were obtained over a wide range of $Q^2$ and $x_B$. The data are compared with Regge and handbag theoretical calculations. Analyses in both frameworks find that a large dominance of transverse processes is necessary to explain the experimental results. For the Regge analysis it is found that the inclusion of vector meson rescattering processes is necessary to bring the magnitude of the calculated and measured structure functions into rough agreement. In the handbag framework, there are two independent calculations, both of which appear to roughly explain the magnitude of the structure functions in terms of transversity generalized parton distributions.
The cross section of the exclusive $eta$ electroproduction reaction $epto e^prime p^prime eta$ was measured at Jefferson Lab with a 5.75-GeV electron beam and the CLAS detector. Differential cross sections $d^4sigma/dtdQ^2dx_Bdphi_eta$ and structure functions $sigma_U = sigma_T+epsilonsigma_L, sigma_{TT}$ and $sigma_{LT}$, as functions of $t$ were obtained over a wide range of $Q^2$ and $x_B$. The $eta$ structure functions are compared with those previously measured for $pi^0$ at the same kinematics. At low $t$, both $pi^0$ and $eta$ are described reasonably well by generalized parton distributions (GPDs) in which chiral-odd transversity GPDs are dominant. The $pi^0$ and $eta$ data, when taken together, can facilitate the flavor decomposition of the transversity GPDs.
We report on the first measurement of cross sections for exclusive deeply virtual pion electroproduction off the proton, $e p to e^prime n pi^+$, above the resonance region at backward pion center-of-mass angles. The $varphi^*_{pi}$-dependent cross sections were measured, from which we extracted three combinations of structure functions of the proton. Our results are compatible with calculations based on nucleon-to-pion transition distribution amplitudes (TDAs) and shed new light on nucleon structure.
Studies of the nucleon resonance electroexcitation amplitudes in a wide range of photon virtualities offer unique information on many facets of strong QCD behind the generation of all prominent excited nucleon states. Advances in the evaluation of resonance electroexcitation amplitudes from the data measured with the CLAS detector and the future extension of these studies with the CLAS12 detector at Jefferson Lab are presented. For the first time, analyses of $pi^0p$, $pi^+n$, $eta p$, and $pi^+pi^-p$ electroproduction off proton channels have provided electroexcitation amplitudes of most resonances in the mass range up to 1.8 GeV and at photon virtualities $Q^2 < 5$~GeV$^2$.Studies of the resonance electroexcitation amplitudes revealed the $N^*$ structure as a complex interplay between the inner core of three dressed quarks and the external meson-baryon cloud. The successful description of the $Delta(1232)3/2^+$ and $N(1440)1/2^+$ electrocouplings achieved within the Dyson-Schwinger Equation approach under a traceable connection to the QCD Lagrangian and supported by the novel light front quark model demonstrated the relevance of dressed quarks with dynamically generated masses as an active structural component in baryons. Future experiments with the CLAS12 detector will offer insight into the structure of all prominent resonances at the highest photon virtualities, $Q^2 < 12$~GeV$^2$, ever achieved in exclusive reactions, thus addressing the most challenging problems of the Standard Model on the nature of hadron mass, quark-gluon confinement, and the emergence of nucleon resonance structures from QCD. A search for new states of hadronic matter, the so-called hybrid-baryons with glue as a structural component, will complete the long term efforts on the resonance spectrum exploration.
Measurements of $gamma p rightarrow K^{+} Lambda$ and $gamma p rightarrow K^{+} Sigma^0$ cross-sections have been obtained with the photon tagging facility and the Crystal Ball calorimeter at MAMI-C. The measurement uses a novel $K^+$ meson identification technique in which the weak decay products are characterized using the energy and timing characteristics of the energy deposit in the calorimeter, a method that has the potential to be applied at many other facilities. The fine center-of-mass energy ($W$) resolution and statistical accuracy of the new data results in a significant impact on partial wave analyses aiming to better establish the excitation spectrum of the nucleon. The new analyses disfavor a strong role for quark-diquark dynamics in the nucleon.