H. Mkrtchyan

First Determination of the Weak Charge of the Proton

The Q(weak) experiment has measured the parity-violating asymmetry in ep elastic scattering at Q(2)=0.025(GeV/c)(2), employing 145 μA of 89% longitudinally polarized electrons on a 34.4 cm long liquid hydrogen target at Jefferson Lab. The results of the experiments commissioning run, constituting approximately 4% of the data collected in the experiment, are reported here. From these initial results, the measured asymmetry is A(ep)=-279±35 (stat) ± 31 (syst) ppb, which is the smallest and most precise asymmetry ever measured in ep scattering. The small Q(2) of this experiment has made possible the first determination of the weak charge of the proton Q(W)(p) by incorporating earlier parity-violating electron scattering (PVES) data at higher Q(2) to constrain hadronic corrections. The value of Q(W)(p) obtained in this way is Q(W)(p)(PVES)=0.064±0.012, which is in good agreement with the standard model prediction of Q(W)(p)(SM)=0.0710±0.0007. When this result is further combined with the Cs atomic parity violation (APV) measurement, significant constraints on the weak charges of the up and down quarks can also be extracted. That PVES+APV analysis reveals the neutrons weak charge to be Q(W)(n)(PVES+APV)=-0.975±0.010.

Strange Quark Contributions to Parity‐Violating Asymmetries in the Backward Angle G0 Electron Scattering Experiment

D. Androić, D. S. Armstrong, J. Arvieux, S. L. Bailey, D. H. Beck, E. J. Beise, J. Benesch, F. Benmokhtar, 7 L. Bimbot, J. Birchall, P. Bosted, H. Breuer, C. L. Capuano, Y.-C. Chao, A. Coppens, C. A. Davis, C. Ellis, G. Flores, G. Franklin, C. Furget, D. Gaskell, M. T. W. Gericke, J. Grames, G. Guillard, J. Hansknecht, T. Horn, M. Jones, P. M. King, W. Korsch, S. Kox, L. Lee, J. Liu, A. Lung, J. Mammei, J. W. Martin, R. D. McKeown, M. Mihovilovic, A. Micherdzinska, H. Mkrtchyan, M. Muether, S. A. Page, V. Papavassiliou, S. F. Pate, S. K. Phillips, P. Pillot, M. L. Pitt, M. Poelker, B. Quinn, W. D. Ramsay, J.-S. Real, J. Roche, P. Roos, J. Schaub, T. Seva, N. Simicevic, G. R. Smith, D. T. Spayde, M. Stutzman, R. Suleiman, 6 V. Tadevosyan, W. T. H. van Oers, M. Versteegen, E. Voutier, W. Vulcan, S. P. Wells, S. E. Williamson, and S. A. Wood

Measurements of Deuteron Photodisintegration up to 4.0 GeV

The first measurements of the differential cross section for the d(γ,p)n reaction up to 4.0 GeV were performed at the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) at Thomas Jefferson Laboratory. We report the cross sections at the proton center-of-mass angles of 36°, 52°, 69°, and 89°. These results are in reasonable agreement with previous measurements at lower energy. The 89° and 69° data show constituent-counting-rule behavior up to 4.0 GeV photon energy. The 52° and 36° data disagree with the counting-rule behavior. The quantum chromodynamics (QCD) model of nuclear reactions involving reduced amplitudes disagrees with the present data.

New Measurements of the European Muon Collaboration Effect in Very Light Nuclei

J. Seely, A. Daniel, D. Gaskell, J. Arrington, ∗ N. Fomin, P. Solvignon, R. Asaturyan, † F. Benmokhtar, W. Boeglin, B. Boillat, P. Bosted, A. Bruell, M.H.S. Bukhari, M.E. Christy, B. Clasie, S. Connell, ‡ M.M. Dalton, D. Day, J. Dunne, D. Dutta, 12 L. El Fassi, R. Ent, H. Fenker, B.W. Filippone, H. Gao, 12 C. Hill, R.J. Holt, T. Horn, 3 E. Hungerford, M.K. Jones, J. Jourdan, N. Kalantarians, C.E. Keppel, D. Kiselev, M. Kotulla, C. Lee, A.F. Lung, S. Malace, D.G. Meekins, T. Mertens, H. Mkrtchyan, T. Navasardyan, G. Niculescu, I. Niculescu, H. Nomura, Y. Okayasu, A.K. Opper, C. Perdrisat, D.H. Potterveld, V. Punjabi, X. Qian, P.E. Reimer, J. Roche, V.M. Rodriguez, O. Rondon, E. Schulte, E. Segbefia, K. Slifer, G.R. Smith, V. Tadevosyan, S. Tajima, L. Tang, G. Testa, R. Trojer, V. Tvaskis, W.F. Vulcan, F.R. Wesselmann, S.A. Wood, J. Wright, L. Yuan, and X. Zheng Laboratory for Nuclear Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA Thomas Jefferson National Laboratory, Newport News, VA, USA Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL, USA University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA Yerevan Physics Institute, Armenia University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA Basel University, Basel, Switzerland Hampton University, Hampton, VA, USA Mississippi State University, Jackson, MS, USA Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA Kellogg Radiation Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA, USA Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan Ohio University, Athens, OH, USA College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA, USA Norfolk State University, Norfolk, VA, USA (Dated: October 27, 2009)

New Measurements of High-Momentum Nucleons and Short-Range Structures in Nuclei

We present new measurements of electron scattering from high-momentum nucleons in nuclei. These data allow an improved determination of the strength of two-nucleon correlations for several nuclei, including light nuclei where clustering effects can, for the first time, be examined. The data also include the kinematic region where three-nucleon correlations are expected to dominate.

Inclusive electron - nucleus scattering at large momentum transfer

The response function of nuclei in the quasielastic region at large momentum transfer (q≤10 fm^-1) is measured for a series of nuclei, 4He, 12C, 27Al, 56Fe, and 197Au, up to large values of the Bjorken scaling variables x<2.5.

Proton G_E/G_M from beam-target asymmetry

The ratio of the protons electric to magnetic form factor, G{sub E}/G{sub M}, can be extracted in elastic electron-proton scattering by measuring cross sections, beam-target asymmetry, or recoil polarization. Separate determinations of G{sub E}/G{sub M} by cross sections and recoil polarization observables disagree for Q{sup 2}>1 (GeV/c){sup 2}. Measurement by a third technique might uncover an unknown systematic error in either of the previous measurements. The beam-target asymmetry has been measured for elastic electron-proton scattering at Q{sup 2} = 1.51 (GeV/c){sup 2} for target spin orientation aligned perpendicular to the beam momentum direction. This is the largest Q{sup 2} at which G{sub E}/G{sub M} has been determined by a beam-target asymmetry experiment. The result, {mu}G{sub E}/G{sub M}=0.884{+-}0.027{+-}0.029, is compared to previous world data.

Transverse momentum dependence of semi-inclusive pion production

Abstract Cross sections for semi-inclusive electroproduction of charged pions ( π ± ) 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.

Semi-Inclusive Charged-Pion Electroproduction off Protons and Deuterons: Cross Sections, Ratios and Access to the Quark-Parton Model at Low Energies

A large set of cross sections for semi-inclusive electroproduction of charged pions (π^±) from both proton and deuteron targets was measured. The data are in the deep-inelastic scattering region with invariant mass squared W^2>4 GeV^2 (up to ≈7 GeV^2) and range in four-momentum transfer squared 2<Q^2<4 (GeV/c)^2, and cover a range in the Bjorken scaling variable 0.2<x<0.6. The fractional energy of the pions spans a range 0.3<z<1, with small transverse momenta with respect to the virtual-photon direction, Pt^(2)_(t)<0.2 (GeV/c)2. The invariant mass that goes undetected, M_x or W′, is in the nucleon resonance region, W′<2 GeV. The new data conclusively show the onset of quark-hadron duality in this process, and the relation of this phenomenon to the high-energy factorization ansatz of electron-quark scattering and subsequent quark→pion production mechanisms. The x, z, and Pt^(2)_(t) dependences of several ratios (the ratios of favored-unfavored fragmentation functions, charged pion ratios, deuteron-hydrogen and aluminum-deuteron ratios for π^+ and π^−) have been studied. The ratios are found to be in good agreement with expectations based upon a high-energy quark-parton model description. We find the azimuthal dependences to be small, as compared to exclusive pion electroproduction, and consistent with theoretical expectations based on tree-level factorization in terms of transverse-momentum-dependent parton distribution and fragmentation functions. In the context of a simple model, the initial transverse momenta of d quarks are found to be slightly smaller than for u quarks, while the transverse momentum width of the favored fragmentation function is about the same as for the unfavored one, and both fragmentation widths are larger than the quark widths.

Transverse beam spin asymmetries in forward-angle elastic electron-proton scattering

We have measured the beam-normal single-spin asymmetry in elastic scattering of transversely polarized 3 GeV electrons from unpolarized protons at Q2=0.15, 0.25 (GeV/c)2. The results are inconsistent with calculations solely using the elastic nucleon intermediate state and generally agree with calculations with significant inelastic hadronic intermediate state contributions. A(n) provides a direct probe of the imaginary component of the 2gamma exchange amplitude, the complete description of which is important in the interpretation of data from precision electron-scattering experiments.