arXiv subjects

M. E. Christy

Publications and source records attributed to M. E. Christy.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2010

Empirical Fit to Precision Inclusive Electron-Proton Cross Sections in the Resonance Region

An empirical fit is described to measurements of inclusive inelastic electron-proton cross sections in the kinematic range of four-momentum transfer $0 \le Q^2<8$ GeV$^2$ and final state invariant mass $1.1<W<3.1$ GeV. The fit is constrained by the recent high precision longitudinal and transverse (L/T) separated cross section measurements from Jefferson Lab Hall C, un-separated Hall C measurements up to $Q^2$ $\approx 7.5$ ${\rm GeV}^2$, and photoproduction data at $Q^2 = 0$. Compared to previous fits, the present fit covers a wider kinematic range, fits both transverse and longitudinal cross sections, and features smooth transitions to the photoproduction data at $Q^2=0$ and DIS data at high $Q^2$ and $W$.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2010

The proton and deuteron F_2 structure function at low Q^2

Measurements of the proton and deuteron $F_2$ structure functions are presented. The data, taken at Jefferson Lab Hall C, span the four-momentum transfer range $0.06 < Q^2 < 2.8$ GeV$^2$, and Bjorken $x$ values from 0.009 to 0.45, thus extending the knowledge of $F_2$ to low values of $Q^2$ at low $x$. Next-to-next-to-leading order calculations using recent parton distribution functions start to deviate from the data for $Q^2<2$ GeV$^2$ at the low and high $x$-values. Down to the lowest value of $Q^2$, the structure function is in good agreement with a parameterization of $F_2$ based on data that have been taken at much higher values of $Q^2$ or much lower values of $x$, and which is constrained by data at the photon point. The ratio of the deuteron and proton structure functions at low $x$ remains well described by a logarithmic dependence on $Q^2$ at low $Q^2$.

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arXiv2010

New parton distributions from large-x and low-Q^2 data

We report results of a new global next-to-leading order fit of parton distribution functions in which cuts on W and Q are relaxed, thereby including more data at high values of x. Effects of target mass corrections (TMCs), higher twist contributions, and nuclear corrections for deuterium data are significant in the large-x region. The leading twist parton distributions are found to be stable to TMC model variations as long as higher twist contributions are also included. The behavior of the d quark as x-->1 is particularly sensitive to the deuterium corrections, and using realistic nuclear smearing models the d-quark distribution at large x is found to be softer than in previous fits performed with more restrictive cuts.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2009

New measurements of the EMC effect in very light nuclei

New Jefferson Lab data are presented on the nuclear dependence of the inclusive cross section from 2H, 3He, 4He, 9Be and 12C for 0.3<x<0.9, Q^2 approximately 3-6 GeV^2. These data represent the first measurement of the EMC effect for 3He at large x and a significant improvement for 4He. The data do not support previous A-dependent or density-dependent fits to the EMC effect and suggest that the nuclear dependence of the quark distributions may depend on the local nuclear environment.

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arXiv2009

Neutral Pion Electroproduction in the Resonance Region at High $Q^2$

The process $ep \to e^{\prime}p^{\prime}π^0$ has been measured at $Q^2$ = 6.4 and 7.7 GeV/c$^2$)$^2$ in Jefferson Lab's Hall C. Unpolarized differential cross sections are reported in the virtual photon-proton center of mass frame considering the process $γ^{\ast}p \to p^{\prime}π^0$. Various details relating to the background subtractions, radiative corrections and systematic errors are discussed. The usefulness of the data with regard to the measurement of the electromagnetic properties of the well known $Δ(1232)$ resonance is covered in detail. Specifically considered are the electromagnetic and scalar-magnetic ratios $R_{EM}$ and $R_{SM}$ along with the magnetic transition form factor $G_M^{\ast}$. It is found that the rapid fall off of the $Δ(1232)$ contribution continues into this region of momentum transfer and that other resonances

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2009

Electroproduction of Eta Mesons in the S11(1535) Resonance Region at High Momentum Transfer

The differential cross-section for the process p(e,e'p)eta has been measured at Q2 ~ 5.7 and 7.0 (GeV/c)2 for centre-of-mass energies from threshold to 1.8 GeV, encompassing the S11(1535) resonance, which dominates the channel. This is the highest momentum transfer measurement of this exclusive process to date. The helicity-conserving transition amplitude A_1/2, for the production of the S11(1535) resonance, is extracted from the data. Within the limited Q2 now measured, this quantity appears to begin scaling as 1/Q3 - a predicted, but not definitive, signal of the dominance of perturbative QCD, at Q2 ~ 5 (GeV/c)2.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2008

Search for Sub-threshold Photoproduction of J/Psi Mesons

A search was made for sub-threshold $J/ψ$ production from a carbon target using a mixed real and quasi-real Bremsstrahlung photon beam with an endpoint energy of 5.76 GeV. No events were observed, which is consistent with predictions assuming quasi-free production. The results place limits on exotic mechanisms that strongly enhance quasi-free production.

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arXiv2008

Charged pion form factor between $Q^2$=0.60 and 2.45 GeV$^2$. I. Measurements of the cross section for the ${^1}$H($e,e'π^+$)$n$ reaction

Cross sections for the reaction ${^1}$H($e,e'π^+$)$n$ were measured in Hall C at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) using the CEBAF high-intensity, continous electron beam in order to determine the charged pion form factor. Data were taken for central four-momentum transfers ranging from $Q^2$=0.60 to 2.45 GeV$^2$ at an invariant mass of the virtual photon-nucleon system of $W$=1.95 and 2.22 GeV. The measured cross sections were separated into the four structure functions $σ_L$, $σ_T$, $σ_{LT}$, and $σ_{TT}$. The various parts of the experimental setup and the analysis steps are described in detail, including the calibrations and systematic studies, which were needed to obtain high precision results. The different types of systematic uncertainties are also discussed. The results for the separated cross sections as a function of the Mandelstam variable $t$ at the different values of $Q^2$ are presented. Some global features of the data are discussed, and the data are compared with the results of some model calculations for the reaction ${^1}$H($e,e'π^+$)$n$.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2008

Charged pion form factor between Q^2=0.60 and 2.45 GeV^2. II. Determination of, and results for, the pion form factor

The charged pion form factor, Fpi(Q^2), is an important quantity which can be used to advance our knowledge of hadronic structure. However, the extraction of Fpi from data requires a model of the 1H(e,e'pi+)n reaction, and thus is inherently model dependent. Therefore, a detailed description of the extraction of the charged pion form factor from electroproduction data obtained recently at Jefferson Lab is presented, with particular focus given to the dominant uncertainties in this procedure. Results for Fpi are presented for Q^2=0.60-2.45 GeV^2. Above Q^2=1.5 GeV^2, the Fpi values are systematically below the monopole parameterization that describes the low Q^2 data used to determine the pion charge radius. The pion form factor can be calculated in a wide variety of theoretical approaches, and the experimental results are compared to a number of calculations. This comparison is helpful in understanding the role of soft versus hard contributions to hadronic structure in the intermediate Q^2 regime.

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arXiv2008

Quark-hadron duality and truncated moments of nucleon structure functions

We employ a novel new approach to study local quark-hadron duality using "truncated" moments, or integrals of structure functions over restricted regions of x, to determine the degree to which individual resonance regions are dominated by leading twist. Because truncated moments obey the same Q^2 evolution equations as the leading twist parton distributions, this approach makes possible for the first time a description of resonance region data and the phenomenon of quark-hadron duality directly from QCD.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2008

Transverse momentum dependence of semi-inclusive pion production

Cross sections for semi-inclusive electroproduction of charged pions ($π^{\pm}$) from both proton and deuteron targets were measured for $0.2<x<0.5$, $2<Q^2<4$ GeV$^2$, $0.3<z<1$, and $P_t^2<0.2$ GeV$^2$. For $P_t<0.1$ GeV, we find the azimuthal dependence to be small, as expected theoretically. For both $π^+$ and $π^-$, the $P_t$ dependence from the deuteron is found to be slightly weaker than from the proton. In the context of a simple model, this implies that the initial transverse momenta width of $d$ quarks is larger than for $u$ quarks and, contrary to expectations, the transverse momentum width of the favored fragmentation function is larger than the unfavored one.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2008

Empirical Fit to Inelastic Electron-Deuteron and Electron-Neutron Resonance Region Transverse Cross Sections

An empirical fit is described to measurements of inclusive inelastic electron-deuteron cross sections in the kinematic r ange of four-momentum transfer $0 \le Q^2<10$ GeV$^2$ and final state invariant mass $1.1<W<3.2$ GeV. The deuteron fit relies on a fit of the ratio $R_p$ of longitudinal to transverse cross sections for the proton, and the assumption $R_p=R_n$. The underlying fit parameters describe the average cross section for proton and neutron, with a plane-wave impulse approximation used to fit to the deuteron data. An additional term is used to fill in the dip between the quasi-elastic peak and the $Δ(1232)$ resonance. The mean deviation of data from the fit is 3%, with less than 4% of the data points deviating from the fit by more than 10%.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2007

Proton Spin Structure in the Resonance Region

We have examined the spin structure of the proton in the region of the nucleon resonances (1.085 GeV < W < 1.910 GeV) at an average four momentum transfer of Q^2 = 1.3 GeV^2. Using the Jefferson Lab polarized electron beam, a spectrometer, and a polarized solid target, we measured the asymmetries A_parallel and A_perp to high precision, and extracted the asymmetries A_1 and A_2, and the spin structure functions g_1 and g_2. We found a notably non-zero A_perp, significant contributions from higher-twist effects, and only weak support for polarized quark--hadron duality.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2007

Double radiative pion capture on hydrogen and deuterium and the nucleon's pion cloud

We report measurements of double radiative capture in pionic hydrogen and pionic deuterium. The measurements were performed with the RMC spectrometer at the TRIUMF cyclotron by recording photon pairs from pion stops in liquid hydrogen and deuterium targets. We obtained absolute branching ratios of $(3.02 \pm 0.27 (stat.) \pm 0.31 (syst.)) \times 10^{-5}$ for hydrogen and $(1.42 \pm ^{0.09}_{0.12} (stat.) \pm 0.11 (syst.)) \times 10^{-5}$ for deuterium, and relative branching ratios of double radiative capture to single radiative capture of $(7.68 \pm 0.69(stat.) \pm 0.79(syst.)) \times 10^{-5}$ for hydrogen and $(5.44 \pm^{0.34}_{0.46}(stat.) \pm 0.42(syst.)) \times 10^{-5}$ for deuterium. For hydrogen, the measured branching ratio and photon energy-angle distributions are in fair agreement with a reaction mechanism involving the annihilation of the incident $π^-$ on the $π^+$ cloud of the target proton. For deuterium, the measured branching ratio and energy-angle distributions are qualitatively consistent with simple arguments for the expected role of the spectator neutron. A comparison between our hydrogen and deuterium data and earlier beryllium and carbon data reveals substantial changes in the relative branching ratios and the energy-angle distributions and is in agreement with the expected evolution of the reaction dynamics from an annihilation process in S-state capture to a bremsstrahlung process in P-state capture. Lastly, we comment on the relevance of the double radiative process to the investigation of the charged pion polarizability and the in-medium pion field.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2006

Determination of the Charged Pion Form Factor at Q2=1.60 and 2.45 (GeV/c)2

The H(e,e'pi+)n cross section was measured at four-momentum transfers of Q2=1.60 and 2.45 GeV2 at an invariant mass of the photon nucleon system of W=2.22 GeV. The charged pion form factor (F_pi) was extracted from the data by comparing the separated longitudinal pion electroproduction cross section to a Regge model prediction in which F_pi is a free parameter. The results indicate that the pion form factor deviates from the charge-radius constrained monopole form at these values of Q2 by one sigma, but is still far from its perturbative Quantum Chromo-Dynamics prediction.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2005

Experimental constraints on non-linearities induced by two-photon effects in elastic and inelastic Rosenbluth separations

The effects of two-photon exchange corrections, suggested to explain the difference between measurements of the proton elastic electromagnetic form factors using the polarization transfer and Rosenbluth techniques, have been studied in elastic and inelastic scattering data. Such corrections could introduce epsilon-dependent non-linearities in inelastic Rosenbluth separations, where epsilon is the virtual photon polarization parameter. It is concluded that such non-linear effects are consistent with zero for elastic, resonance, and deep-inelastic scattering for all Q^2 and W^2 values measured.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2005

Higher twist analysis of the proton g_1 structure function

We perform a global analysis of all available spin-dependent proton structure function data, covering a large range of Q^2, 1 < Q^2 < 30 GeV^2, and calculate the lowest moment of the g_1 structure function as a function of Q^2. From the Q^2 dependence of the lowest moment we extract matrix elements of twist-4 operators, and determine the color electric and magnetic polarizabilities of the proton to be χ_E = 0.026 +- 0.015 (stat) + 0.021/-0.024 (sys) and χ_B = -0.013 -+ 0.007 (stat) - 0.010/+0.012 (sys), respectively.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2004

Q^2 Evolution of Generalized Baldin Sum Rule for the Proton

The generalized Baldin sum rule for virtual photon scattering, the unpolarized analogy of the generalized Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn integral, provides an important way to investigate the transition between perturbative QCD and hadronic descriptions of nucleon structure. This sum rule requires integration of the nucleon structure function F_1, which until recently had not been measured at low Q^2 and large x, i.e. in the nucleon resonance region. This work uses new data from inclusive electron-proton scattering in the resonance region obtained at Jefferson Lab, in combination with SLAC deep inelastic scattering data, to present first precision measurements of the generalized Baldin integral for the proton in the Q^2 range of 0.3 to 4.0 GeV^2.

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