Background: Measurements of forward exclusive meson production at different squared four-momenta of the exchanged virtual photon, $Q^2$, and at different four-momentum transfer, t, can be used to probe QCDs transition from meson-nucleon degrees of fr
eedom at long distances to quark-gluon degrees of freedom at short scales. Ratios of separated response functions in $pi^-$ and $pi^+$ electroproduction are particularly informative. The ratio for transverse photons may allow this transition to be more easily observed, while the ratio for longitudinal photons provides a crucial verification of the assumed pole dominance, needed for reliable extraction of the pion form factor from electroproduction data. Method: Data were acquired with 2.6-5.2 GeV electron beams and the HMS+SOS spectrometers in Jefferson Lab Hall C, at central $Q^2$ values of 0.6, 1.0, 1.6 GeV$^2$ at W=1.95 GeV, and $Q^2$=2.45 GeV$^2$ at W=2.22 GeV. There was significant coverage in $phi$ and $epsilon$, which allowed separation of $sigma_{L,T,LT,TT}$. Results: $sigma_L$ shows a clear signature of the pion pole, with a sharp rise at small -t. In contrast, $sigma_T$ is much flatter versus t. The longitudinal/transverse ratios evolve with $Q^2$ and t, and at the highest $Q^2$=2.45 GeV$^2$ show a slight enhancement for $pi^-$ production compared to $pi^+$. The $pi^-/pi^+$ ratio for transverse photons exhibits only a small $Q^2$-dependence, following a nearly universal curve with t, with a steep transition to a value of about 0.25, consistent with s-channel quark knockout. The $sigma_{TT}/sigma_T$ ratio also drops rapidly with $Q^2$, qualitatively consistent with s-channel helicity conservation. The $pi^-/pi^+$ ratio for longitudinal photons indicates a small isoscalar contamination at W=1.95 GeV, consistent with what was observed in our earlier determination of the pion form factor at these kinematics.
The study of exclusive $pi^{pm}$ electroproduction on the nucleon, including separation of the various structure functions, is of interest for a number of reasons. The ratio $R_L=sigma_L^{pi^-}/sigma_L^{pi^+}$ is sensitive to isoscalar contamination
to the dominant isovector pion exchange amplitude, which is the basis for the determination of the charged pion form factor from electroproduction data. A change in the value of $R_T=sigma_T^{pi^-}/sigma_T^{pi^+}$ from unity at small $-t$, to 1/4 at large $-t$, would suggest a transition from coupling to a (virtual) pion to coupling to individual quarks. Furthermore, the mentioned ratios may show an earlier approach to pQCD than the individual cross sections. We have performed the first complete separation of the four unpolarized electromagnetic structure functions above the dominant resonances in forward, exclusive $pi^{pm}$ electroproduction on the deuteron at central $Q^2$ values of 0.6, 1.0, 1.6 GeV$^2$ at $W$=1.95 GeV, and $Q^2=2.45$ GeV$^2$ at $W$=2.22 GeV. Here, we present the $L$ and $T$ cross sections, with emphasis on $R_L$ and $R_T$, and compare them with theoretical calculations. Results for the separated ratio $R_L$ indicate dominance of the pion-pole diagram at low $-t$, while results for $R_T$ are consistent with a transition between pion knockout and quark knockout mechanisms.
