arXiv subjects

A. G. Acar

Publications and source records attributed to A. G. Acar.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Measurements of $γ_v p \to π^+ π^-p'$ Cross Sections with the CLAS12 Detector for $Q^2$ from 2.4-8.0 GeV$^2$ and $W$ from 1.4-2.1 GeV

This paper reports exclusive cross sections for the $ep \to e'π^+π^-p'$ reaction using the CLAS12 detector at Jefferson Laboratory. The extractions of fully integrated and nine single-differential cross sections are presented for the first time for photon virtualities $Q^2$ from 2.4 to 8.0 GeV$^2$ and center-of-mass energies $W$ from 1.4 to 2.1 GeV, which covers a large part of the nucleon resonance region. These data considerably extend the kinematic reach of previous measurements from CLAS that covered $Q^2$ up to 5.0 GeV$^2$. Exclusive $γ_v p \to π^+ π^-p'$ cross section measurements are of particular importance for the extraction of $γ_vpN^*$ resonance electrocouplings across the $N^*$ spectrum, especially in the mass range above 1.6 GeV where several resonances decay preferentially to the $ππN$ final states. The electrocouplings with extended $Q^2$ coverage expected from these new data will enable an improved understanding of the emergence of $N^*$ mass and structure in the transition from the strongly coupled toward the perturbative QCD regime.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2026

First Measurement of Near-Threshold J/ψ Photoproduction on the Neutron

We report the first measurement of the total and t-differential cross sections for near-threshold J/$ψ$ photoproduction on the neutron, obtained with the CLAS12 detector at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. The measurements, performed using a liquid-deuterium target, also provide the incoherent total and t-differential cross sections on the bound proton, enabling the first direct comparison of near-threshold J/$ψ$ photoproduction on bound protons and neutrons. Interpreted within Vector Meson Dominance, holographic QCD, and GPD-based frameworks, the data allow for the investigation of the gluonic structure of bound nucleons. A comparison with free proton results reveals hints of modifications to the gluon structure of nucleons in the nuclear medium, within the assumptions of the extraction and on the underlying production mechanism. The comparison of bound neutron and bound proton cross sections provides new constraints on the near-threshold J/$ψ$ production mechanism, which is crucial in order to establish J/$ψ$ photoproduction as a probe of the nucleon's gluonic structure.

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arXiv2026

Measurement of the near-threshold J$/ψ$ photoproduction cross section with the CLAS12 experiment

We present measurements of the total and differential cross sections for near-threshold J/$ψ$ photoproduction obtained with the CLAS12 detector at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. The results are based on data collected during the Fall 2018 and Spring 2019 running periods, using electron beams with energies of 10.6 and 10.2 GeV, respectively, scattered off a liquid-hydrogen target. Near-threshold J$/ψ$ photoproduction offers a unique sensitivity to the strong interaction in the non-perturbative regime of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). The energy dependence of the cross section constrains the underlying J$/ψ$ production mechanisms, including multi-gluon exchange and potential baryonic excitations. Additionally, the $t$-dependence of the differential cross section can be related to the transverse spatial distribution of gluons in the proton, providing critical input for theoretical descriptions of the gluonic structure of the proton. An interpretation of the results in terms of the gluon content of the proton is presented, providing new experimental constraints on QCD-inspired models of the proton structure and the role of gluonic degrees of freedom in hadronic mass generation.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2026

Measurements of Beam Spin Asymmetries of $π^\pmπ^0$ dihadrons at CLAS12

A first measurement of beam spin asymmetries for $π^+π^0$ and $π^-π^0$ pairs in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering is reported. The asymmetries in the dihadron angular distributions were measured from the scattering of a 10.6 GeV longitudinally polarized electron beam off a proton target, using the CLAS12 detector at Jefferson Lab. A photon classifier using a Gradient Boosted Trees (GBTs) architecture was trained with Monte Carlo simulations to reduce the amount of false combinatorial background $π^0$s, increasing statistics by up to five-fold compared to previous CLAS12 $π^0$ analyses. A nonzero $\sinϕ_{R_\perp}$ asymmetry is observed. This measurement is sensitive to the underexplored collinear twist-3 PDF $e(x)$, which encodes quark-gluon correlations in the proton, and presents a new avenue for its point-by-point extraction. The asymmetries also provide the first experimental evidence for the isospin-dependence of the helicity-dependent dihadron fragmentation function $G_1^\perp$, revealed by a sign-difference between the $π^+π^0$ and $π^-π^0$ channels in the $\sin(ϕ_h-ϕ_{R_\perp})$ modulation. In contrast, a large, same-sign enhancement near the $ρ$ mass for the $\sin(2ϕ_h-2ϕ_{R_\perp})$ modulation is observed, matching spectator model predictions in $π^+π^-$ pairs.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2026

Measurement of the nucleon spin structure functions for 0.01<$Q^2$<1 GeV$^2$ using CLAS

The spin structure functions of the proton and the deuteron were measured during the EG4 experiment at Jefferson Lab in 2006. Data were collected for longitudinally polarized electron scattering off longitudinally polarized NH$_3$ and ND$_3$ targets, for $Q^2$ values as small as 0.012 and 0.02 GeV$^2$, respectively, using the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS). This is the archival paper of the EG4 experiment that summaries the previously reported results of the polarized structure functions $g_1$, $A_1F_1$, and their moments $\overline Γ_1$, $\overline γ_0$, and $\overline I_{TT}$, for both the proton and the deuteron. In addition, we report on new results on the neutron $g_1$ extracted by combining proton and deuteron data and correcting for Fermi smearing, and on the neutron moments $\overline Γ_1$, $\overline γ_0$, and $\overline I_{TT}$ formed directly from those of the proton and the deuteron. Our data are in good agreement with the Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn sum rule for the proton, deuteron, and neutron. Furthermore, the isovector combination was formed for $g_1$ and the Bjorken integral $\overline Γ_1^{p-n}$, and compared to available theoretical predictions. All of our results provide for the first time extensive tests of spin observable predictions from chiral effective field theory ($χ$EFT) in a $Q^2$ range commensurate with the pion mass. They motivate further improvement in $χ$EFT calculations from other approaches such as the lattice gauge method.

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