We measure the spin-density matrix elements (SDMEs) of the Delta(++)(1232) in the photoproduction reaction gamma p -> pi(-) Delta(++)(1232) with the GlueX experiment in Hall D at Jefferson Lab. The measurement uses a linearly-polarized photon beam with energies from 8.2 to 8.8GeV and the statistical precision of the SDMEs exceeds the previous measurement by three orders of magnitude for the momentum transfer squared region below 1.4GeV(2). The data are sensitive to the previously undetermined relative sign between couplings in existing Regge-exchange models. Linear combinations of the extracted SDMEs allow for a decomposition into natural and unnatural-exchange amplitudes. We find that the unnatural exchange plays an important role in the low momentum transfer region.

We report new pion electroproduction measurements in the Δ (1232) resonance, utilizing the SHMS - HMS magnetic spectrometers of Hall C at Jefferson Lab. The data focus on a region that exhibits a strong and rapidly changing interplay of the mesonic cloud and quark-gluon dynamics in the nucleon. The results are in reasonable agreement with models that employ pion cloud effects and chiral effective field theory calculations, but at the same time they suggest that an improvement is required to the theoretical calculations and provide valuable input that will allow their refinements. The data illustrate the potential of the magnetic spectrometers setup in Hall C towards the study the Δ (1232) resonance. These first reported results will be followed by a series of measurements in Hall C, that will expand the studies of the Δ (1232) resonance offering a high precision insight within a wide kinematic range from low to high momentum transfers.

A measurement of the double-spin asymmetry from electron-^3He scattering in the threshold region of two- and three-body breakup of ^3He was performed at Jefferson Lab, for Q^2 values of 0.1 and 0.2 (GeV/c)^2. The results of this measurement serve as a stringent test of our understanding of few-body systems. When compared with calculations from plane wave impulse approximation and Faddeev theory, we found that the Faddeev calculations, which use modern nuclear potentials and prescriptions for meson-exchange currents, demonstrate an overall good agreement with data.

The spin-exotic hybrid meson π_{1}(1600) is predicted to have a large decay rate to the ωππ final state. Using 76.6  pb^{-1} of data collected with the GlueX detector, we measure the cross sections for the reactions γp→ωπ^{+}π^{-}p, γp→ωπ^{0}π^{0}p, and γp→ωπ^{-}π^{0}Δ^{++} in the range E_{γ}=8-10  GeV. Using isospin conservation, we set the first upper limits on the photoproduction cross sections of the π_{1}^{0}(1600) and π_{1}^{-}(1600). We combine these limits with lattice calculations of decay widths and find that photoproduction of η^{'}π is the most sensitive two-body system to search for the π_{1}(1600).

The nuclear dependence of the inclusive inelastic electron scattering cross section (the EMC effect) has been measured for the first time in B10 and B11. Previous measurements of the EMC effect in A≤12 nuclei showed an unexpected nuclear dependence; B10 and B11 were measured to explore the EMC effect in this region in more detail. Results are presented for Be9, B10, B11, and C12 at an incident beam energy of 10.6 GeV. The EMC effect in the boron isotopes was found to be similar to that for Be9 and C12, yielding almost no nuclear dependence in the EMC effect in the range A=4–12. This represents important new data supporting the hypothesis that the EMC effect depends primarily on the local nuclear environment due to the cluster structure of these nuclei.Received 8 July 2022Revised 21 April 2023Accepted 17 July 2023DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.108.035201©2023 American Physical SocietyPhysics Subject Headings (PhySH)Research AreasLepton induced nuclear reactionsQCD in nuclear reactionsProperties6 ≤ A ≤ 19TechniquesParticle sources & targetsSpectrometers & spectroscopic techniquesNuclear Physics

Quasi-elastic scattering on $^{12}$C$(e,e'p)$ was measured in Hall C at Jefferson Lab for space-like 4-momentum transfer squared $Q^2$ in the range of 8--14.2\,(GeV/$c$)$^2$ with proton momenta up to 8.3\,GeV/$c$. The experiment was carried out in the upgraded Hall C at Jefferson Lab. It used the existing high momentum spectrometer and the new super high momentum spectrometer to detect the scattered electrons and protons in coincidence. The nuclear transparency was extracted as the ratio of the measured yield to the yield calculated in the plane wave impulse approximation. Additionally, the transparency of the $1s_{1/2}$ and $1p_{3/2}$ shell protons in $^{12}$C was extracted, and the asymmetry of the missing momentum distribution was examined for hints of the quantum chromodynamics prediction of Color Transparency. All of these results were found to be consistent with traditional nuclear physics and inconsistent with the onset of Color Transparency.

Quasielastic scattering on 12C(e, e'p) was measured in Hall C at Jefferson Lab for spacelike four-momentum transfer squared Q2 in the range of 8-14.2 (GeV/c)2 with proton momenta up to 8.3 GeV/c. The experiment was carried out in the upgraded Hall C at Jefferson Lab. It used the existing high-momentum spectrometer and the new super-high-momentum spectrometer to detect the scattered electrons and protons in coincidence. The nuclear transparency was extracted as the ratio of the measured yield to the yield calculated in the plane wave impulse approximation. Additionally, the transparency of the 1s1/2 and 1p3/2 shell protons in 12C was extracted, and the asymmetry of the missing momentum distribution was examined for hints of the quantum chromodynamics prediction of color transparency. All of these results were found to be consistent with traditional nuclear physics and inconsistent with the onset of color transparency.

The nuclear dependence of the inclusive inelastic electron scattering cross section (the EMC effect) has been measured for the first time in 10B and 11B. Previous measurements of the EMC effect in A 12 nuclei showed an unexpected nuclear dependence; 10B and 11B were measured to explore the EMC effect in this region in more detail. Results are presented for 9Be, 10B, 11B, and 12C at an incident beam energy of 10.6 GeV. The EMC effect in the boron isotopes was found to be similar to that for 9Be and 12C, yielding almost no nuclear dependence in the EMC effect in the range A = 4-12. This represents important new data supporting the hypothesis that the EMC effect depends primarily on the local nuclear environment due to the cluster structure of these nuclei.

The GlueX experiment at Jefferson Lab studies photoproduction of mesons using linearly polarized 8.5 GeV photons impinging on a hydrogen target which is contained within a detector with near-complete coverage for charged and neutral particles. We present measurements of spin-density matrix elements for the photoproduction of the vector meson rho(770). The statistical precision achieved exceeds that of previous experiments for polarized photoproduction in this energy range by orders of magnitude. We confirm a high degree of s-channel helicity conservation at small squared four-momentum transfer t and are able to extract the t dependence of natural and unnatural-parity exchange contributions to the production process in detail. We confirm the dominance of natural-parity exchange over the full t range. We also find that helicity amplitudes in which the helicity of the incident photon and the photoproduced rho(770) differ by two units are negligible for -t < 0.5 GeV2/c(2).

We report the total and differential cross sections for J/& psi; photoproduction with the large acceptance GlueX spectrometer for photon beam energies from the threshold at 8.2 GeV up to 11.44 GeV and over the full kinematic range of momentum transfer squared, t. Such coverage facilitates the extrapolation of the differential cross sections to the forward (t = 0) point beyond the physical region. The forward cross section is used by many theoretical models and plays an important role in understanding J/& psi; photoproduction and its relation to the J/& psi;-proton interaction. These measurements of J/& psi; photoproduction near threshold are also crucial inputs to theoretical models that are used to study important aspects of the gluon structure of the proton, such as the gluon generalized parton distribution of the proton, the mass radius of the proton, and the trace anomaly contribution to the proton mass. We observe possible structures in the total cross section energy dependence and find evidence for contributions beyond gluon exchange in the differential cross section close to threshold, both of which are consistent with contributions from open-charm intermediate states.

The gravitational form factors (GFFs) are a fundamental and elegant way to describe the structure of nucleons and nuclei. Their Fourier transform allows a description of the spatial distribution of the mass, angular momentum, pressure, and shear force densities for both quarks and gluons in the nucleon. While previous investigations predominantly focused on the proton electromagnetic form factors (EMFFs) leading to the charge and magnetization distributions determination, the current emphasis has shifted towards expanding our understanding of the gravitational form factors of quarks and gluons where little is known. In particular, more recently, the proton {\it gluonic} GFFs have been the target of an intensive investigation at Jefferson Lab. This endeavor, is not without its challenges, particularly in navigating the complexities associated with the near-threshold region. Nevertheless, it provides a bedrock for future nucleon and nuclei gluonic structure studies at the future EIC. In this talk, I will focus on the recent results of $J/\psi$ photoproduction near-threshold on the proton at Jefferson Lab to determine, in particular, the elusive {\it gluonic} gravitational form factors. We discuss the caveats of their extraction in the threshold region and mention the complementary measurements of $\Upsilon$ at the EIC critical to access the trace anomaly and gain insight into the origin of the nucleon mass.

The proton is one of the main building blocks of all visible matter in the universe. Among its intrinsic properties are its electric charge, mass, and spin. These emerge from the complex dynamics of its fundamental constituents, quarks and gluons, described by the theory of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Using electron scattering its electric charge and spin, shared among the quark constituents, have been the topic of active investigation until today. An example is the novel precision measurement of the proton's electric charge radius. In contrast, little is known about the proton's inner mass density, dominated by the energy carried by the gluons, which are hard to access through electron scattering since gluons carry no electromagnetic charge. In the present work we chose to probe this gluonic gravitational density using a small color dipole, the $J/\psi$ particle, through its threshold photoproduction. From our data we determined, for the first time, the proton's gluonic gravitational form factors, which encode its mass density. We used a variety of methods and determined in all cases a mass radius that is notably smaller than the electric charge radius. In some cases, the determined radius is in excellent agreement with first-principle predictions from lattice QCD. This work paves the way for a deeper understanding of the salient role of gluons in providing gravitational mass to visible matter.

S. Adhikari, C. S. Akondi, M. Albrecht, A. Ali, M. Amaryan, A. Asaturyan, A. Austregesilo, Z. Baldwin, F. Barbosa, J. Barlow, E. Barriga, R. Barsotti, T. D. Beattie, V. V. Berdnikov, T. Black, W. Boeglin, W. J. Briscoe, T. Britton, W. K. Brooks, E. Chudakov, S. Cole, P. L. Cole, O. Cortes, V. Crede, M. M. Dalton, T. Daniels, A. Deur, S. Dobbs, A. Dolgolenko, R. Dotel, M. Dugger, R. Dzhygadlo, H. Egiyan, T. Erbora, A. Ernst, P. Eugenio, C. Fanelli, S. Fegan, ∗ J. Fitches, A. M. Foda, S. Furletov, L. Gan, H. Gao, A. Gasparian, C. Gleason, 28 K. Goetzen, V. S. Goryachev, L. Guo, M. Hagen, H. Hakobyan, A. Hamdi, J. Hernandez, N. D. Hoffman, G. Hou, G. M. Huber, A. Hurley, D. G. Ireland, M. M. Ito, I. Jaegle, N. S. Jarvis, R. T. Jones, V. Kakoyan, G. Kalicy, M. Kamel, V. Khachatryan, M. Khatchatryan, C. Kourkoumelis, S. Kuleshov, A. LaDuke, I. Larin, 14 D. Lawrence, D. I. Lersch, H. Li, W. B. Li, B. Liu, K. Livingston, G. J. Lolos, K. Luckas, V. Lyubovitskij, D. Mack, A. Mahmood, H. Marukyan, V. Matveev, M. McCaughan, M. McCracken, 29 C. A. Meyer, R. Miskimen, R. E. Mitchell, K. Mizutani, V. Neelamana, F. Nerling, L. Ng, A. I. Ostrovidov, Z. Papandreou, C. Paudel, P. Pauli, † R. Pedroni, L. Pentchev, K. J. Peters, J. Reinhold, B. G. Ritchie, J. Ritman, 15 G. Rodriguez, D. Romanov, C. Romero, K. Saldana, C. Salgado, S. Schadmand, A. M. Schertz, A. Schick, A. Schmidt, R. A. Schumacher, J. Schwiening, P. Sharp, X. Shen, M. R. Shepherd, A. Smith, E. S. Smith, D. I. Sober, A. Somov, S. Somov, O. Soto, J. R. Stevens, I. I. Strakovsky, B. Sumner, K. Suresh, V. V. Tarasov, S. Taylor, A. Teymurazyan, A. Thiel, G. Vasileiadis, T. Viducic, T. Whitlatch, N. Wickramaarachchi, M. Williams, Y. Yang, J. Zarling, Z. Zhang, Z. Zhao, J. Zhou, X. Zhou, Q. Zhou, and B. Zihlmann

We report on the measurement of spin density matrix elements of the (cid:2) (1520) in the photoproduction reaction γ p → (cid:2) (1520) K + , via its subsequent decay to K − p . The measurement was performed as part of the GlueX experimental program in Hall D at Jefferson Laboratory using a linearly polarized photon beam with E γ = 8 . 2 GeV–8 . 8 GeV. These are the first such measurements in this photon energy range. Results are presented in bins of momentum transfer squared, − ( t − t 0 ). We compare the results with a Reggeon exchange model and determine that natural exchange amplitudes are dominant in (cid:2) (1520) photoproduction.

We present a search for axion-like particles, a , produced in photon-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of approximately 4 GeV, focusing on the scenario where the a -gluon coupling is dominant. The search uses a → γγ and a → π + π − π 0 decays, and a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 168 pb − 1 collected with the GlueX detector. The search for a → γγ decays is performed in the mass range of 180 < m a < 480 MeV, while the search for a → π + π − π 0 decays explores the 600 < m a < 720 MeV region. No evidence for a signal is found, and 90% confidence-level exclusion limits are placed on the a -gluon coupling strength. These constraints are the most stringent to date over much of the mass ranges considered.

We report the first measurement of the parity-violating elastic electron scattering asymmetry on ^{27}Al. The ^{27}Al elastic asymmetry is A_{PV}=2.16±0.11(stat)±0.16(syst)  ppm, and was measured at ⟨Q^{2}⟩=0.02357±0.00010  GeV^{2}, ⟨θ_{lab}⟩=7.61°±0.02°, and ⟨E_{lab}⟩=1.157  GeV with the Q_{weak} apparatus at Jefferson Lab. Predictions using a simple Born approximation as well as more sophisticated distorted-wave calculations are in good agreement with this result. From this asymmetry the ^{27}Al neutron radius R_{n}=2.89±0.12  fm was determined using a many-models correlation technique. The corresponding neutron skin thickness R_{n}-R_{p}=-0.04±0.12  fm is small, as expected for a light nucleus with a neutron excess of only 1. This result thus serves as a successful benchmark for electroweak determinations of neutron radii on heavier nuclei. A tree-level approach was used to extract the ^{27}Al weak radius R_{w}=3.00±0.15  fm, and the weak skin thickness R_{wk}-R_{ch}=-0.04±0.15  fm. The weak form factor at this Q^{2} is F_{wk}=0.39±0.04.

We present new precision measurements of the elastic electron-proton scattering cross section for momentum transfer (Q^{2}) up to 15.75  (GeV/c)^{2}. Combined with existing data, these provide an improved extraction of the proton magnetic form factor at high Q^{2} and double the range over which a longitudinal or transverse separation of the cross section can be performed. The difference between our results and polarization data agrees with that observed at lower Q^{2} and attributed to hard two-photon exchange (TPE) effects, extending to 8  (GeV/c)^{2} the range of Q^{2} for which a discrepancy is established at >95% confidence. We use the discrepancy to quantify the size of TPE contributions needed to explain the cross section at high Q^{2}.

The GLUEX experiment at Jefferson Lab has been designed to study photoproduction reactions with a 9-GeV linearly polarized photon beam. The energy and arrival time of beam photons are tagged using a scintillator hodoscope and a scintillating fiber array. The photon flux is determined using a pair spectrometer, while the linear polarization of the photon beam is determined using a polarimeter based on triplet photoproduction. Charged-particle tracks from interactions in the central target are analyzed in a solenoidal field using a central straw-tube drift chamber and six packages of planar chambers with cathode strips and drift wires. Electromagnetic showers are reconstructed in a cylindrical scintillating fiber calorimeter inside the magnet and a lead-glass array downstream. Charged particle identification is achieved by measuring energy loss in the wire chambers and using the flight time of particles between the target and detectors outside the magnet. The signals from all detectors are recorded with flash ADCs and/or pipeline TDCs into memories allowing trigger decisions with a latency of 3.3 mu s. The detector operates routinely at trigger rates of 40 kHz and data rates of 600 megabytes per second. We describe the photon beam, the GLUEX detector components, electronics, data-acquisition and monitoring systems, and the performance of the experiment during the first three years of operation.