arXiv subjects

S. Sirca

Publications and source records attributed to S. Sirca.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

White Paper on Polarized Target Studies with Real Photons in Hall D

This white paper summarizes the Workshop on Polarized Target Studies with Real Photons in Hall D at Jefferson Lab, that took place on 21 February 2024. The Workshop included about 45 participants both online and in person at Florida State University in Tallahassee. Contributions describe the experimental infrastructure available in Hall D and potential physics applications. The rate and detection capabilities of Hall D are outlined, as well as the properties of a circularly polarized photon beam and a polarized target. Possible physics measurements include light and strange quark baryon spectroscopy, the GDH sum rule, proton structure accessed through measurement of Generalized Parton Distributions and modification of nucleon structure within the nuclear medium.

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arXiv2023

A novel measurement of the neutron magnetic form factor from A=3 mirror nuclei

The electromagnetic form factors of the proton and neutron encode information on the spatial structure of their charge and magnetization distributions. While measurements of the proton are relatively straightforward, the lack of a free neutron target makes measurements of the neutron's electromagnetic structure more challenging and more sensitive to experimental or model-dependent uncertainties. Various experiments have attempted to extract the neutron form factors from scattering from the neutron in deuterium, with different techniques providing different, and sometimes large, systematic uncertainties. We present results from a novel measurement of the neutron magnetic form factor using quasielastic scattering from the mirror nuclei $^3$H and $^3$He, where the nuclear effects are larger than for deuterium but expected to largely cancel in the cross-section ratios. We extracted values of the neutron magnetic form factor for low-to-modest momentum transfer, $0.6<Q^2<2.9$ GeV$^2$, where existing measurements give inconsistent results. The precision and $Q^2$ range of this data allow for a better understanding of the current world's data, and suggest a path toward further improvement of our overall understanding of the neutron's magnetic form factor.

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arXiv2022

Low-$Q^2$ elastic electron-proton scattering using a gas jet target

In this paper, we describe an experiment measuring low-$Q^2$ elastic electron-proton scattering using a newly developed cryogenic supersonic gas jet target in the A1 three-spectrometer facility at the Mainz Microtron. We measured the proton electric form factor within the four-momentum transfer range of $0.01\le Q^2 \le 0.045(\text{GeV/c})^2$. The experiment showed consistent results with the existing measurements. The data we collected demonstrated the feasibility of the gas jet target and the potential of future scattering experiments using high-resolution spectrometers with this gas jet target.

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arXiv2021

Measurement of the {\alpha}-particle monopole transition form factor challenges theory: a low-energy puzzle for nuclear forces?

We perform a systematic study of the $\alpha$-particle excitation from its ground state $0_1^+$ to the $0_2^+$ resonance. The so-called monopole transition form factor is investigated via an electron scattering experiment in a broad $Q^2$-range (from $0.5$ to $5.0$ fm$^{-2}$). The precision of the new data dramatically superseeds that of older sets of data, each covering only a portion of the $Q^2$-range. The new data allow the determination of two coefficients in a low-momentum expansion leading to a new puzzle. By confronting experiment to state-of-the-art theoretical calculations we observe that modern nuclear forces, including those derived within chiral effective field theory which are well tested on a variety of observables, fail to reproduce the excitation of the $\alpha$-particle.

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arXiv2021

Deeply virtual Compton scattering off the neutron

The three-dimensional structure of nucleons (protons and neutrons) is embedded in so-called generalized parton distributions, which are accessible from deeply virtual Compton scattering. In this process, a high energy electron is scattered off a nucleon by exchanging a virtual photon. Then, a highly-energetic real photon is emitted from one of the quarks inside the nucleon, which carries information on the quark's transverse position and longitudinal momentum. By measuring the cross-section of deeply virtual Compton scattering, Compton form factors related to the generalized parton distributions can be extracted. Here, we report the observation of unpolarized deeply virtual Compton scattering off a deuterium target. From the measured photon-electroproduction cross-sections, we have extracted the cross-section of a quasi-free neutron and a coherent deuteron. Due to the approximate isospin symmetry of quantum chromodynamics, we can determine the contributions from the different quark flavours to the helicity-conserved Compton form factors by combining our measurements with previous ones probing the proton's internal structure. These results advance our understanding of the description of the nucleon structure, which is important to solve the proton spin puzzle.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Measurement of the generalized spin polarizabilities of the neutron in the low $Q^2$ region

Understanding the nucleon spin structure in the regime where the strong interaction becomes truly strong poses a challenge to both experiment and theory. At energy scales below the nucleon mass of about 1 GeV, the intense interaction among the quarks and gluons inside the nucleon makes them highly correlated. Their coherent behaviour causes the emergence of effective degrees of freedom, requiring the application of non-perturbative techniques, such as chiral effective field theory. Here, we present measurements of the neutron's generalized spin-polarizabilities that quantify the neutron's spin precession under electromagnetic fields at very low energy-momentum transfer squared down to 0.035 GeV$^2$. In this regime, chiral effective field theory calculations are expected to be applicable. Our data, however, show a strong discrepancy with these predictions, presenting a challenge to the current description of the neutron's spin properties.

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arXiv2019

Measurement of the 3He Spin-Structure Functions and of Neutron (3He) Spin-Dependent Sum Rules at 0.035<Q^2<0.24 GeV^2

The spin-structure functions $g_1$ and $g_2$, and the spin-dependent partial cross-section $\sigma_\mathrm{TT}$ have been extracted from the polarized cross-sections differences, $\Delta \sigma_{\parallel}\hspace{-0.06cm}\left(\nu,Q^{2}\right)$ and $\Delta \sigma_{\perp}\hspace{-0.06cm}\left(\nu,Q^{2}\right)$ measured for the $\vec{^\textrm{3}\textrm{He}}(\vec{\textrm{e}},\textrm{e}')\textrm{X}$ reaction, in the E97-110 experiment at Jefferson Lab. Polarized electrons with energies from 1.147 to 4.404 GeV were scattered at angles of 6$^{\circ}$ and 9$^{\circ}$ from a longitudinally or transversely polarized $^{3}$He target. The data cover the kinematic regions of the quasi-elastic, resonance production and beyond. From the extracted spin-structure functions, the first moments $\overline{\Gamma_1}\hspace{-0.06cm}\left(Q^{2}\right)$, $\Gamma_2\hspace{-0.06cm}\left(Q^{2}\right)$ and $I_{\mathrm{TT}}\hspace{-0.06cm}\left(Q^{2}\right)$ are evaluated with high precision for the neutron in the $Q^2$ range from 0.035 to 0.24~GeV$^{2}$. The comparison of the data and the chiral effective field theory predictions reveals the importance of proper treatment of the $\Delta$ degree of freedom for spin observables.

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arXiv2019

Development of large area focal plane detectors for MAGIX

MAGIX is a planned experiment that will be implemented at the upcoming accelerator MESA in Mainz. Due to its location in the energy-recovering lane of the accelerator beam-currents up to 1mA with a maximum energy of 105 MeV will be available for precision experiments. MAGIX itself consists of a jet-target and two magnetic spectrometers. Inside the spectrometers GEM-based detectors will be used in the focal plane for track reconstruction. The design goals for the detector modules are a spatial resolution of 50 um, a size of 1.20 m x 0.3 m and a minimal material budget. To accomplish these goals we started developing several GEM-prototypes to study different behaviors and techniques to optimize the final detector design. The GEM foils used are provided by CERN and are trained, stretched and framed in our laboratory. The readout is done with an SRS based system. In this contribution the requirements, achievements and the ongoing developments are presented.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2019

Measurement of the single-spin asymmetry $A_y^0$ in quasi-elastic $^3$He$^\uparrow$($e,e'n$) scattering at $0.4 < Q^2 < 1.0$ GeV$/c^2$

Due to the lack of free neutron targets, studies of the structure of the neutron are typically made by scattering electrons from either $^2$H or $^3$He targets. In order to extract useful neutron information from a $^3$He target, one must understand how the neutron in a $^3$He system differs from a free neutron by taking into account nuclear effects such as final state interactions and meson exchange currents. The target single spin asymmetry $A_y^0$ is an ideal probe of such effects, as any deviation from zero indicates effects beyond plane wave impulse approximation. New measurements of the target single spin asymmetry $A_y^0$ at $Q^2$ of 0.46 and 0.96 (GeV/$c)^2$ were made at Jefferson Lab using the quasi-elastic $^3\mathrm{He}^{\uparrow}(e,e'n)$ reaction. Our measured asymmetry decreases rapidly, from $>20\%$ at $Q^2=0.46$ (GeV/$c)^2$ to nearly zero at $Q^2=0.96$ (GeV$/c)^2$, demonstrating the fall-off of the reaction mechanism effects as $Q^2$ increases. We also observed a small $\epsilon$-dependent increase in $A_y^0$ compared to previous measurements, particularly at moderate $Q^2$. This indicates that upcoming high $Q^2$ measurements from the Jefferson Lab 12 GeV program can cleanly probe neutron structure from polarized $^3$He using plane wave impulse approximation.

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arXiv2019

Probing for high momentum protons in $^4$He via the $^4He(e,e'p)X$ reaction

Experimental cross sections for the $^4He(e,e'p)X$ reaction up to a missing momentum of 0.632 GeV/$c$ at $x_B=1.24$ and $Q^2$=2(GeV/$c$)$^2$ are reported. The data are compared to Relativistic Distorted Wave Impulse Approximation(RDWIA) calculations for $^4He(e,e'p)^3H$ channel. Significantly more events in the triton mass region are measured for $p_{m}$$>$0.45 GeV/$c$ than are predicted by the theoretical model, suggesting that the effects of initial-state multi-nucleon correlations are stronger than expected by the RDWIA model.

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arXiv2019

Virtual Compton Scattering measurements in the nucleon resonance region

We report on new measurements of the electric Generalized Polarizability (GP) of the proton $\alpha_E$ in a kinematic region where a puzzling dependence on momentum transfer has been observed, and we have found that $\alpha_E = (5.3 \pm 0.6_{stat} \pm 1.3_{sys})~10^{-4} fm^3$ at $Q^2=0.20~(GeV/c)^2$. The new measurements, when considered along with the rest of the world data, suggest that $\alpha_E$ can be described by either a local plateau or by an enhancement in the region $Q^2=0.20~(GeV/c)^2$ to $0.33~(GeV/c)^2$. The experiment also provides the first measurement of the Coulomb quadrupole amplitude in the $N \rightarrow \Delta$ transition through the exploration of the $p(e,e'p)\gamma$ reaction. The new measurement gives $CMR = (-4.4 \pm 0.8_{stat} \pm 0.6_{sys})~\%$ at $Q^2=0.20~(GeV/c)^2$ and is consistent with the results from the pion electroproduction world data. It has been obtained using a completely different extraction method, and therefore represents a strong validation test of the world data model uncertainties.

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arXiv2018

High-resolution hypernuclear spectroscopy at Jefferson Lab, Hall A

The experiment E94-107 in Hall A at Jefferson Lab started a systematic study of high resolution hypernuclear spectroscopy in the 0p-shell region of nuclei such as the hypernuclei produced in electroproduction on 9Be, 12C and 16O targets. In order to increase counting rates and provide unambiguous kaon identification two superconducting septum magnets and a ring-imaging Cherenkov detector were added to the Hall A standard equipment. The high-quality beam, the good spectrometers and the new experimental devices allowed us to obtain very good results. For the first time, measurable strength with sub-MeV energy resolution was observed for the core-excited states of Lambda 12B. A high-quality Lambda 16N hypernuclear spectrum was likewise obtained. A first measurement of the Lambda binding energy for Lambda 16N, calibrated against the elementary reaction on hydrogen, was obtained with high precision, 13.76 +/- 0.16 MeV. Similarly, the first Lambda 9Li hypernuclear spectrum shows general agreement with theory (distorted-wave impulse approximation with the SLA and BS3 electroproduction models and shell-model wave functions). Some disagreement exists with respect to the relative strength of the states making up the first multiplet. A Lambda separation energy of 8.36 MeV was obtained, in agreement with previous results. It has been shown that the electroproduction of hypernuclei can provide information complementary to that obtained with hadronic probes and the gamma-ray spectroscopy technique.

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arXiv2018

Dispersive Corrections to the Born Approximation in Elastic Electron-Nucleus Scattering in the Intermediate Energy Regime

Measurements of elastic electron scattering data within the past decade have highlighted two-photon exchange contributions as a necessary ingredient in theoretical calculations to precisely evaluate hydrogen elastic scattering cross sections. This correction can modify the cross section at the few percent level. In contrast, dispersive effects can cause significantly larger changes from the Born approximation. The purpose of this experiment is to extract the carbon-12 elastic cross section around the first diffraction minimum, where the Born term contributions to the cross section are small to maximize the sensitivity to dispersive effects. The analysis uses the LEDEX data from the high resolution Jefferson Lab Hall A spectrometers to extract the cross sections near the first diffraction minimum of 12C at beam energies of 362 MeV and 685 MeV. The results are in very good agreement with previous world data, although with less precision. The average deviation from a static nuclear charge distribution expected from linear and quadratic fits indicate a 30.6% contribution of dispersive effects to the cross section at 1 GeV. The magnitude of the dispersive effects near the first diffraction minimum of 12C has been confirmed to be large with a strong energy dependence and could account for a large fraction of the magnitude for the observed quenching of the longitudinal nuclear response. These effects could also be important for nuclei radii extracted from parity-violating asymmetries measured near a diffraction minimum.

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arXiv2017

Search for three-nucleon short-range correlations in light nuclei

We present new data probing short-range correlations (SRCs) in nuclei through the measurement of electron scattering off high-momentum nucleons in nuclei. The inclusive 4He/3He cross section ratio is observed to be both x and Q2 independent for 1.5 < x < 2, confirming the dominance of two- nucleon (2N) short-range correlations (SRCs). For x > 2, our data do not support a previous claim of three-nucleon (3N) correlation dominance. While contributions beyond those from stationary 2N- SRCs are observed, our data show that isolating 3N-SRCs is more complicated than for 2N-SRCs.

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arXiv2017

Polarization Transfer Observables in Elastic Electron Proton Scattering at $Q^2 = $2.5, 5.2, 6.8, and 8.5 GeV$^2$

The GEp-III and GEp-2$\gamma$ experiments were carried out in Jefferson Lab's (JLab's) Hall C from 2007-2008, to extend the knowledge of $G_E^p/G_M^p$ to the highest practically achievable $Q^2$ and to search for effects beyond the Born approximation in polarization transfer observables of elastic $\vec{e}p$ scattering. This article reports an expanded description of the common experimental apparatus and data analysis procedure, and the results of a final reanalysis of the data from both experiments, including the previously unpublished results of the full-acceptance data of the GEp-2$\gamma$ experiment. The Hall C High Momentum Spectrometer detected and measured the polarization of protons recoiling elastically from collisions of JLab's polarized electron beam with a liquid hydrogen target. A large-acceptance electromagnetic calorimeter detected the elastically scattered electrons in coincidence to suppress inelastic backgrounds. The final GEp-III data are largely unchanged relative to the originally published results. The statistical uncertainties of the final GEp-2$\gamma$ data are significantly reduced at $\epsilon = 0.632$ and $0.783$ relative to the original publication. The decrease with $Q^2$ of $G_E^p/G_M^p$ continues to $Q^2 = 8.5$ GeV$^2$, but at a slowing rate relative to the approximately linear decrease observed in earlier Hall A measurements. At $Q^2 = 2.5$ GeV$^2$, the proton form factor ratio $G_E^p/G_M^p$ shows no statistically significant $\epsilon$-dependence, as expected in the Born approximation. The ratio $P_\ell/P_\ell^{Born}$ of the longitudinal polarization transfer component to its Born value shows an enhancement of roughly 1.4\% at $\epsilon = 0.783$ relative to $\epsilon = 0.149$, with $\approx 1.9\sigma$ significance based on the total uncertainty, implying a similar effect in the transverse component $P_t$ that cancels in the ratio $R$.

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arXiv2017

Technical Supplement to "Polarization Transfer Observables in Elastic Electron-Proton Scattering at Q$^2$ = 2.5, 5.2, 6.8, and 8.5 GeV$^2$"

The GEp-III and GEp-2$\gamma$ experiments, carried out in Jefferson Lab's Hall C from 2007-2008, consisted of measurements of polarization transfer in elastic electron-proton scattering at momentum transfers of $Q^2 = 2.5, 5.2, 6.8,$ and $8.54$ GeV$^2$. These measurements were carried out to improve knowledge of the proton electromagnetic form factor ratio $R = \mu_p G_E^p/G_M^p$ at large values of $Q^2$ and to search for effects beyond the Born approximation in polarization transfer observables at $Q^2 = 2.5$ GeV$^2$. The final results of both experiments were reported in a recent archival publication. A full reanalysis of the data from both experiments was carried out in order to reduce the systematic and, for the GEp-2$\gamma$ experiment, statistical uncertainties. This technical note provides additional details of the final analysis omitted from the main publication, including the final evaluation of the systematic uncertainties.

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arXiv2017

Measurement of the Vector and Tensor Asymmetries at Large Missing Momentum in Quasielastic $(\vec{e}, e^{\prime}p)$ Electron Scattering from Deuterium

We report the measurement of the beam-vector and tensor asymmetries $A^V_{ed}$ and $A^T_d$ in quasielastic $(\vec{e}, e^{\prime}p)$ electrodisintegration of the deuteron at the MIT-Bates Linear Accelerator Center up to missing momentum of 500~MeV/c. Data were collected simultaneously over a momentum transfer range $0.1< Q^2<0.5$~(GeV/c)$^2$ with the Bates Large Acceptance Spectrometer Toroid using an internal deuterium gas target, polarized sequentially in both vector and tensor states. The data are compared with calculations. The beam-vector asymmetry $A^V_{ed}$ is found to be directly sensitive to the $D$-wave component of the deuteron and have a zero-crossing at a missing momentum of about 320~MeV/c, as predicted. The tensor asymmetry $A^T_d$ at large missing momentum is found to be dominated by the influence of the tensor force in the neutron-proton final-state interaction. The new data provide a strong constraint on theoretical models.

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arXiv2017

Extraction of the Neutron Electric Form Factor from Measurements of Inclusive Double Spin Asymmetries

$[Background]$ Measurements of the neutron charge form factor, $G^n_E$, are challenging due to the fact that the neutron has no net charge. In addition, measurements of the neutron form factors must use nuclear targets which require accurately accounting for nuclear effects. Extracting $G^n_E$ with different targets and techniques provides an important test of our handling of these effects. $[Purpose]$ The goal of the measurement was to use an inclusive asymmetry measurement technique to extract the neutron charge form factor at a four-momentum transfer of $1~(\rm{GeV/c})^2$. This technique has very different systematic uncertainties than traditional exclusive measurements and thus serves as an independent check of whether nuclear effects have been taken into account correctly. $[Method]$ The inclusive quasi-elastic reaction $^3\overrightarrow{\rm{He}}(\overrightarrow{e},e')$ was measured at Jefferson Lab. The neutron electric form factor, $G_E^n$, was extracted at $Q^2 = 0.98~(\rm{GeV/c})^2$ from ratios of electron-polarization asymmetries measured for two orthogonal target spin orientations. This $Q^2$ is high enough that the sensitivity to $G_E^n$ is not overwhelmed by the neutron magnetic contribution, and yet low enough that explicit neutron detection is not required to suppress pion production. $[Results]$ The neutron electric form factor, $G_E^n$, was determined to be $0.0414\pm0.0077\;{(stat)}\pm0.0022\;{(syst)}$; providing the first high precision inclusive extraction of the neutron's charge form factor. $[Conclusions]$ The use of the inclusive quasi-elastic $^3\overrightarrow{\rm{He}}(\overrightarrow{e},e')$ with a four-momentum transfer near $1~(\rm{GeV/c})^2$ has been used to provide a unique measurement of $G^n_E$. This new result provides a systematically independent validation of the exclusive extraction technique results.

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