1. Separated Response Functions in Exclusive, Forward $\pi^{\pm}$ Electroproduction on Deuterium
- Author
-
Huber, G. M., Blok, H. P., Butuceanu, C., Gaskell, D., Horn, T., Mack, D. J., Abbott, D., Aniol, K., Anklin, H., Armstrong, C., Arrington, J., Assamagan, K., Avery, S., Baker, O. K., Barrett, B., Beise, E. J., Bochna, C., Boeglin, W., Brash, E. J., Breuer, H., Chang, C. C., Chant, N., Christy, M. E., Dunne, J., Eden, T., Ent, R., Fenker, H., Gibson, E. F., Gilman, R., Gustafsson, K., Hinton, W., Holt, R. J., Jackson, H., Jin, S., Jones, M. K., Keppel, C. E., Kim, P. H., Kim, W., King, P. M., Klein, A., Koltenuk, D., Kovaltchouk, V., Liang, M., Liu, J., Lolos, G. J., Lung, A., Margaziotis, D. J., Markowitz, P., Matsumura, A., McKee, D., Meekins, D., Mitchell, J., Miyoshi, T., Mkrtchyan, H., Mueller, B., Niculescu, G., Niculescu, I., Okayasu, Y., Pentchev, L., Perdrisat, C., Pitz, D., Potterveld, D., Punjabi, V., Qin, L. M., Reimer, P. E., Reinhold, J., Roche, J., Roos, P. G., Sarty, A., Shin, I. K., Smith, G. R., Stepanyan, S., Tang, L. G., Tadevosyan, V., Tvaskis, V., van der Meer, R. L. J., Vansyoc, K., Van Westrum, D., Vidakovic, S., Volmer, J., Vulcan, W., Warren, G., Wood, S. A., Xu, C., Yan, C., Zhao, W. -X., Zheng, X., Zihlmann, B., and Collaboration, The Jefferson Lab Fpi
- Subjects
Nuclear Experiment - Abstract
Background: Measurements of forward exclusive meson production at different squared four-momenta of the exchanged virtual photon, $Q^2$, and at different four-momentum transfer, t, can be used to probe QCD's transition from meson-nucleon degrees of freedom at long distances to quark-gluon degrees of freedom at short scales. Ratios of separated response functions in $\pi^-$ and $\pi^+$ electroproduction are particularly informative. The ratio for transverse photons may allow this transition to be more easily observed, while the ratio for longitudinal photons provides a crucial verification of the assumed pole dominance, needed for reliable extraction of the pion form factor from electroproduction data. Method: Data were acquired with 2.6-5.2 GeV electron beams and the HMS+SOS spectrometers in Jefferson Lab Hall C, at central $Q^2$ values of 0.6, 1.0, 1.6 GeV$^2$ at W=1.95 GeV, and $Q^2$=2.45 GeV$^2$ at W=2.22 GeV. There was significant coverage in $\phi$ and $\epsilon$, which allowed separation of $\sigma_{L,T,LT,TT}$. Results: $\sigma_L$ shows a clear signature of the pion pole, with a sharp rise at small -t. In contrast, $\sigma_T$ is much flatter versus t. The longitudinal/transverse ratios evolve with $Q^2$ and t, and at the highest $Q^2$=2.45 GeV$^2$ show a slight enhancement for $\pi^-$ production compared to $\pi^+$. The $\pi^-/\pi^+$ ratio for transverse photons exhibits only a small $Q^2$-dependence, following a nearly universal curve with t, with a steep transition to a value of about 0.25, consistent with s-channel quark knockout. The $\sigma_{TT}/\sigma_T$ ratio also drops rapidly with $Q^2$, qualitatively consistent with s-channel helicity conservation. The $\pi^-/\pi^+$ ratio for longitudinal photons indicates a small isoscalar contamination at W=1.95 GeV, consistent with what was observed in our earlier determination of the pion form factor at these kinematics., Comment: 25 pages, 16 figures, 6 tables
- Published
- 2014
- Full Text
- View/download PDF