arXiv subjects

B. -Q. Ma

Publications and source records attributed to B. -Q. Ma.

27 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2011

Inclusive Measurements of Inelastic Electron and Positron Scattering from Unpolarized Hydrogen and Deuterium Targets

Results of inclusive measurements of inelastic electron and positron scattering from unpolarized protons and deuterons at the HERMES experiment are presented. The structure functions $F_2^p$ and $F_2^d$ are determined using a parameterization of existing data for the longitudinal-to-transverse virtual-photon absorption cross-section ratio. The HERMES results provide data in the ranges $0.006\leq x\leq 0.9$ and 0.1 GeV$^2\leq Q^2\leq$ 20 GeV$^2$, covering the transition region between the perturbative and the non-perturbative regimes of QCD in a so-far largely unexplored kinematic region. They are in agreement with existing world data in the region of overlap. The measured cross sections are used, in combination with data from other experiments, to perform fits to the photon-nucleon cross section using the functional form of the ALLM model. The deuteron-to-proton cross-section ratio is also determined.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2011

Measurement of azimuthal asymmetries associated with deeply virtual Compton scattering on a longitudinally polarized deuterium target

Azimuthal asymmetries in exclusive electroproduction of a real photon from a longitudinally polarized deuterium target are measured with respect to target polarization alone and with respect to target polarization combined with beam helicity and/or beam charge. The asymmetries appear in the distribution of the real photons in the azimuthal angle $ϕ$ around the virtual photon direction, relative to the lepton scattering plane. The asymmetries arise from the deeply virtual Compton scattering process and its interference with the Bethe-Heitler process. The results for the beam-charge and beam-helicity asymmetries from a tensor polarized deuterium target with vanishing vector polarization are shown to be compatible with those from an unpolarized deuterium target, which is expected for incoherent scattering dominant at larger momentum transfer. Furthermore, the results for the single target-spin asymmetry and for the double-spin asymmetry are found to be compatible with the corresponding asymmetries previously measured on a hydrogen target. For coherent scattering on the deuteron at small momentum transfer to the target, these findings imply that the tensor contribution to the cross section is small. Furthermore, the tensor asymmetry is found to be compatible with zero.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2011

Ratios of Helicity Amplitudes for Exclusive rho-0 Electroproduction

Exclusive rho^0-meson electroproduction is studied in the HERMES experiment, using a 27.6 GeV longitudinally polarized electron/positron beam and unpolarized hydrogen and deuterium targets in the kinematic region 0.5 GeV^2 < Q^2 < 7.0 GeV^2, 3.0 GeV < W < 6.3 GeV, and -t' < 0.4 GeV^2. Real and imaginary parts of the ratios of the natural-parity-exchange helicity amplitudes T_{11} (γ^*_T --> ρ_T), T_{01} (γ^*_T --> ρ_L), T_{10} (γ^*_L --> ρ_T), and T_{1-1} (γ^*_{-T} -->ρ_T) to T_{00} (γ^*_L --> ρ_L) are extracted from the data. For the unnatural-parity-exchange amplitude U_{11}, the ratio |U_{11}/T_{00}| is obtained. The Q^2 and t' dependences of these ratios are presented and compared with perturbative QCD predictions.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2011

Transverse Spin Structure of the Nucleon through Target Single Spin Asymmetry in Semi-Inclusive Deep-Inelastic $(e,e^\prime π^\pm)$ Reaction at Jefferson Lab

Jefferson Lab (JLab) 12 GeV energy upgrade provides a golden opportunity to perform precision studies of the transverse spin and transverse-momentum-dependent structure in the valence quark region for both the proton and the neutron. In this paper, we focus our discussion on a recently approved experiment on the neutron as an example of the precision studies planned at JLab. The new experiment will perform precision measurements of target Single Spin Asymmetries (SSA) from semi-inclusive electro-production of charged pions from a 40-cm long transversely polarized $^3$He target in Deep-Inelastic-Scattering kinematics using 11 and 8.8 GeV electron beams. This new coincidence experiment in Hall A will employ a newly proposed solenoid spectrometer (SoLID). The large acceptance spectrometer and the high polarized luminosity will provide precise 4-D ($x$, $z$, $P_T$ and $Q^2$) data on the Collins, Sivers, and pretzelocity asymmetries for the neutron through the azimuthal angular dependence. The full 2$π$ azimuthal angular coverage in the lab is essential in controlling the systematic uncertainties. The results from this experiment, when combined with the proton Collins asymmetry measurement and the Collins fragmentation function determined from the e$^+$e$^-$ collision data, will allow for a quark flavor separation in order to achieve a determination of the tensor charge of the d quark to a 10% accuracy. The extracted Sivers and pretzelocity asymmetries will provide important information to understand the correlations between the quark orbital angular momentum and the nucleon spin and between the quark spin and nucleon spin.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2010

Effects of transversity in deep-inelastic scattering by polarized protons

Single-spin asymmetries for pions and charged kaons are measured in semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering of positrons and electrons off a transversely nuclear-polarized hydrogen target. The dependence of the cross section on the azimuthal angles of the target polarization (phi_S)and the produced hadron (phi) is found to have a substantial sin(phi+phi_S) modulation for the production of pi+, pi- and K+. This Fourier component can be interpreted in terms of non-zero transversity distribution functions and non-zero favored and disfavored Collins fragmentation functions with opposite sign. For pi0 and K- production the amplitude of this Fourier component is consistent with zero.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2010

Exclusive Leptoproduction of Real Photons on a Longitudinally Polarised Hydrogen Target

Polarisation asymmetries are measured for the hard exclusive leptoproduction of real photons from a longitudinally polarised hydrogen target. These asymmetries arise from the deeply virtual Compton scattering and Bethe-Heitler processes. From the data are extracted two asymmetries in the azimuthal distribution of produced real photons about the direction of the exchanged virtual photon: A_UL with respect to the target polarisation and A_LL with respect to the product of the beam and target polarisations. Results for both asymmetries are compared to the predictions from a generalised parton distribution model. The sin(phi) and cos(0*phi) amplitudes observed respectively for the A_UL and A_LL asymmetries are compatible with the sizeable predictions from the model. Unexpectedly, a sin(2*phi) modulation in the A_UL asymmetry with a magnitude similar to that of the sin(phi) modulation is observed.

hep-ex↗

arXiv1997

The Spin and Flavor Content of Intrinsic Sea Quarks

The intrinsic quark-antiquark pairs generated by the minimal energy nonperturbative meson-baryon fluctuations in the nucleon sea provide a consistent framework for understanding a number of empirical anomalies observed in the deep inelastic quark-parton structure of nucleons: the flavor asymmetry of the nucleon sea implied by the violation of Gottfried sum rule, the proton spin problem implied by the violation of the Ellis-Jaffe sum rule, and the outstanding conflict between two different determinations of the strange quark sea in the nucleon.

hep-ph↗

arXiv1996

Asymmetric Quark/Antiquark Hadronization in e+e- Annihilation

We point out that the fragmentation of a strange quark into nucleons versus antinucleons is not necessarily identical $D_{p/s}(z,Q^2) \neq D_{\bar p/s}(z,Q^2)$, even though the perturbative contributions from gluon splitting and evolution are $p \leftrightarrow \bar p$ symmetric. The observation of such asymmetries in the hadronization of strange and other heavy quarks can provide insight into the nonperturbative mechanisms underlying jet fragmentation in QCD.

hep-ph↗

arXiv1996

The Quark/Antiquark Asymmetry of the Nucleon Sea

Although the distributions of sea quarks and antiquarks generated by leading-twist QCD evolution through gluon splitting $g \rightarrow \bar q q$ are necessarily CP symmetric, the distributions of nonvalence quarks and antiquarks which are intrinsic to the nucleon's bound state wavefunction need not be identical. In this paper we investigate the sea quark/antiquark asymmetries in the nucleon wavefunction which are generated by a light-cone model of energetically-favored meson-baryon fluctuations. The model predicts striking quark/antiquark asymmetries in the momentum and helicity distributions for the down and strange contributions to the proton structure function: the intrinsic $d$ and $s$ quarks in the proton sea are predicted to be negatively polarized, whereas the intrinsic $\bar d$ and $\bar s$ antiquarks give zero contributions to the proton spin. Such a picture is supported by experimental phenomena related to the proton spin problem and the violation of the Ellis-Jaffe sum rule. The light-cone meson-baryon fluctuation model also suggests a structured momentum distribution asymmetry for strange quarks and antiquarks which could be relevant to an outstanding conflict between two different determinations of the strange quark sea in the nucleon. The model predicts an excess of intrinsic $d \bar d$ pairs over $u \bar u$ pairs, as supported by the Gottfried sum rule violation. We also predict that the intrinsic charm and anticharm helicity and momentum distributions are not identical.

hep-ph↗