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 on the first measurement of J/ψ photoproduction from nuclei in the photon energy range of 7 to 10.8 GeV, extending above and below the photoproduction threshold in the free proton of ∼8.2  GeV. The experiment used a tagged photon beam incident on deuterium, helium, and carbon, and the GlueX detector at Jefferson Lab to measure the semi-inclusive A(γ,e^{+}e^{-}p) reaction with a dilepton invariant mass M(e^{+}e^{-})∼m_{J/ψ}=3.1  GeV. The incoherent J/ψ photoproduction cross sections in the measured nuclei are extracted as a function of the incident photon energy, momentum transfer, and proton-reconstructed missing light-cone momentum fraction. Comparisons with theoretical predictions assuming a dipole form factor allow for extracting a gluonic radius for bound protons of sqrt[⟨r^{2}⟩]=0.85±0.14  fm. The data also suggest an excess of the measured cross section for subthreshold production and for interactions with high missing light-cone momentum fraction protons. The measured enhancement can be explained by modified gluon structure for high-virtuality bound protons.

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).

We report on the results of the first search for the production of axion-like particles (ALPs) via Primakoff production on nuclear targets, γA→aA, in the “SRC-CT” experiment using the GlueX detector at Jefferson Lab. This search uses an integrated luminosity of 100 pb⋅−1nucleon on a 12C target with a real photon beam of energies 6

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.

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.

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.

The reaction γp→K+Λ(1520) using photoproduction data from the CLAS g12 experiment at Jefferson Lab is studied. The decay of Λ(1520) into two exclusive channels, Σ+π− and Σ−π+, is studied from the detected K+, π+, and π− particles. A good agreement is established for the Λ(1520) differential cross sections with the previous CLAS measurements. The differential cross sections as a function of center-of-mass angle are extended to higher photon energies. Newly added are the differential cross sections as a function of invariant four-momentum transfer t, which is the natural variable to use for a theoretical model based on a Regge-exchange reaction mechanism. No new N* resonances decaying into the K+Λ(1520) final state are found.

We report a measurement of the pi(-) photoproduction beam asymmetry for the reaction (gamma) over right arrowp -> pi(-)Delta(++) using data from the GLUEX experiment in the photon beam energy range 8.2-8.8 GeV. The asymmetry Sigma is measured as a function of four-momentum transfer t to the Delta(++) and compared to phenomenological models. We find that Sigma varies as a function of t : negative at smaller values and positive at higher values of vertical bar t vertical bar. The reaction can be described theoretically by t-channel particle exchange requiring pseudoscalar, vector, and tensor intermediaries. In particular, this reaction requires charge exchange, allowing us to probe pion exchange and the significance of higher-order corrections to one-pion exchange at low momentum transfer. Constraining production mechanisms of conventional mesons may aid in the search for and study of unconventional mesons. This is the first measurement of the process at this energy.

Strange matter is believed to exist in the cores of neutron stars based on simple kinematics. If this is true, then hyperon-nucleon interactions will play a significant part in the neutron star equation of state (EOS). Yet, compared to other elastic scattering processes, there is very little data on Λ-N scattering. This experiment utilized the CLAS detector to study the Λ p →Λ p elastic scattering cross section in the incident Λ momentum range 0.9-2.0 GeV/c. This is the first data on this reaction in several decades. The new cross sections have significantly better accuracy and precision than the existing world data, and the techniques developed here can also be used in future experiments.

The quark structure of the f_{2}(1270) meson has, for many years, been assumed to be a pure quark-antiquark (qq[over ¯]) resonance with quantum numbers J^{PC}=2^{++}. Recently, it was proposed that the f_{2}(1270) is a molecular state made from the attractive interaction of two ρ mesons. Such a state would be expected to decay strongly to final states with charged pions due to the dominant decay ρ→π^{+}π^{-}, whereas decay to two neutral pions would likely be suppressed. Here, we measure for the first time the reaction γp→π^{0}π^{0}p, using the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer detector at Jefferson Lab for incident beam energies between 3.6 and 5.4 GeV. Differential cross sections, dσ/dt, for f_{2}(1270) photoproduction are extracted with good precision due to low backgrounds and are compared to theoretical calculations.

Strange matter is believed to exist in the cores of neutron stars based on simple kinematics. If this is true, then hyperon-nucleon interactions will play a significant part in the neutron star equation of state. Yet, compared to other elastic scattering processes, there is very little data on Λ-N scattering. This experiment utilized the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) detector to study the Λp→Λp elastic scattering cross section in the incident Λ momentum range 0.9-2.0  GeV/c. These are the first data on this reaction since the 1970s. The new cross sections have significantly better accuracy and precision than the existing world data, and the techniques developed here can also be used in future experiments.

Photoproduction cross sections are reported for the reaction gamma p -> p eta using energy-tagged photons and the CLAS spectrometer at Jefferson Laboratory. The eta mesons are detected in their dominant charged decay mode, eta -> pi(+)pi(-) pi(0), and results on differential cross sections are presented for incident photon energies between 1.2 and 4.7 GeV. These new eta photoproduction data are consistent with earlier CLAS results but extend the energy range beyond the nucleon resonance region into the Regge regime. The normalized angular distributions are also compared with the experimental results from several other experiments, and with predictions of eta-MAID 2018 and the latest solution of the Bonn-Gatchina coupled-channel analysis. Differential cross sections d sigma / dt are presented for incident photon energies E gamma > 2.9 GeV (W > 2.5 GeV), and compared with predictions which are based on Regge trajectories exchange in the t -channel (Regge models). The data confirm the expected dominance of rho, omega vector-meson exchange in an analysis by the Joint Physics Analysis Center.

We present the first measurement of the reaction gamma p -> a(2) (1320)(0) p in the photon energy range 3.5-5.5 GeV and four-momentum transfer squared 0.2 < -t < 2.0 GeV2. Data were collected with the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer detector at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. The a(2) resonance was detected by measuring the reaction gamma p -> pi(0)eta p Tip and reconstructing the pi(0)eta invariant mass. The most prominent feature of the differential cross section is a dip at -t approximate to 0.55 GeV2. This can be described in the framework of Regge phenomenology, where the exchange degeneracy hypothesis predicts a zero in the reaction amplitude for this value of the four-momentum transfer.

We report measurements of the photon beam asymmetry $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Sigma}}$ for the reaction $\stackrel{P\vec}{\ensuremath{\gamma}}p\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{K}^{+}{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Sigma}}}^{0}$(1193) using the GlueX spectrometer in Hall D at Jefferson Lab. Data were collected by using a linearly polarized photon beam in the energy range of 8.2--8.8 GeV incident on a liquid hydrogen target. The beam asymmetry $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Sigma}}$ was measured as a function of the Mandelstam variable $t$, and a single value of $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Sigma}}$ was extracted for events produced in the $u$ channel. These are the first exclusive measurements of the photon beam asymmetry $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Sigma}}$ for the reaction in this energy range. For the $t$ channel, the measured beam asymmetry is close to unity over the $t$ range studied, $\ensuremath{-}t=(0.1--1.4)\phantom{\rule{3.33333pt}{0ex}}$($\mathrm{GeV}/{c)}^{2}$, with an average value of $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Sigma}}=1.00\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.05$. This agrees with theoretical models that describe the reaction via the natural-parity exchange of the ${K}^{*}$(892) Regge trajectory. A value of $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Sigma}}=0.41\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}\phantom{\rule{3.33333pt}{0ex}}0.09$ is obtained for the $u$ channel integrated up to $\ensuremath{-}u=2.0$ ($\mathrm{GeV}/{c)}^{2}$.

We report measurements of the photon beam asymmetry Σ for the reaction γp→K+Σ0 (1193) using the GlueX spectrometer in Hall D at Jefferson Lab. Data were collected by using a linearly polarized photon beam in the energy range of 8.2–8.8 GeV incident on a liquid hydrogen target. The beam asymmetry Σ was measured as a function of the Mandelstam variable t , and a single value of Σ was extracted for events produced in the u channel. These are the first exclusive measurements of the photon beam asymmetry Σ for the reaction in this energy range. For the t channel, the measured beam asymmetry is close to unity over the t range studied, − t = ( 0.1 – 1.4 ) ( GeV / c ) 2 , with an average value of Σ = 1.00 ± 0.05 . This agrees with theoretical models that describe the reaction via the natural-parity exchange of the K ∗ (892) Regge trajectory. A value of Σ = 0.41 ± 0.09 is obtained for the u channel integrated up to − u = 2.0 ( GeV / c ) 2 .