A precision measurement of the differential cross sections dσ/dΩ and the linearly polarized photon asymmetry Σ≡(dσ⊥-dσ∥)/(dσ⊥+dσ∥) for the γp→π0p reaction in the near-threshold region has been ...performed with a tagged photon beam and almost 4π detector at the Mainz Microtron. The Glasgow-Mainz photon tagging facility along with the Crystal Ball/TAPS multiphoton detector system and a cryogenic liquid hydrogen target were used. These data allowed for a precise determination of the energy dependence of the real parts of the S- and all three P-wave amplitudes for the first time and provide the most stringent test to date of the predictions of chiral perturbation theory and its energy region of agreement with experiment.
The double-polarization observable E and helicity-dependent cross sections σ1/2, σ3/2 have been measured for the photoproduction of π0 pairs off quasifree protons and neutrons at the Mainz MAMI ...accelerator with the Crystal Ball/TAPS setup. A circularly polarized photon beam was produced by bremsstrahlung from longitudinally polarized electrons and impinged on a longitudinally polarized deuterated butanol target. The reaction products were detected with an almost 4π covering calorimeter. The results reveal for the first time the helicity- and isospin-dependent structure of the γN → Nπ0π0 reaction.They are compared to predictions from reaction models in view of nucleon resonance contributions and also to a refit of one model that predicted results for the proton and for the neutron target. As a result, the comparison of the prediction and the refit demonstrates the large impact of the new data.
We report a first measurement of the double-polarisation observable, Cx′, in π+ photoproduction off the proton. The Cx′ double-polarisation observable represents the transfer of polarisation from a ...circularly polarised photon beam to the recoiling neutron. The MAMI circularly polarised photon beam impinged on a liquid deuterium target cell, with reaction products detected in the Crystal Ball calorimeter. Ancillary apparatus surrounding the target provided tracking, particle identification and determination of recoil nucleon polarisation. The Cx′ observable is determined for photon energies 800-1400 MeV, providing new constraints on models aiming to elucidate the spectrum and properties of nucleon resonances. This is the first determination of any polarisation observable from the beam-recoil group of observables for this reaction. Inclusion of the new data in the database of the SAID partial wave analysis shifted the solution to a new global minima which, not only gives better agreement with the current data, but also improves the description of a range of other single and double polarisation observables for charged pion photoproduction.
The spin polarizabilities of the nucleon describe how the spin of the nucleon responds to an incident polarized photon. The most model-independent way to extract the nucleon spin polarizabilities is ...through polarized Compton scattering. Double-polarized Compton scattering asymmetries on the proton were measured in the Δ(1232) region using circularly polarized incident photons and a transversely polarized proton target at the Mainz Microtron. Fits to asymmetry data were performed using a dispersion model calculation and a baryon chiral perturbation theory calculation, and a separation of all four proton spin polarizabilities in the multipole basis was achieved. The analysis based on a dispersion model calculation yields γ(E1E1)=-3.5±1.2, γ(M1M1)=3.16±0.85, γ(E1M2)=-0.7±1.2, and γ(M1E2)=1.99±0.29, in units of 10(-4) fm(4).
We report a measurement of the spin polarization of the recoiling neutron in deuterium photodisintegration, utilizing a new large acceptance polarimeter within the Crystal Ball at MAMI. The measured ...photon energy range of 300-700 MeV provides the first measurement of recoil neutron polarization at photon energies where the quark substructure of the deuteron plays a role, thereby providing important new constraints on photodisintegration mechanisms. A very high neutron polarization in a narrow structure centered around E_{γ}∼570 MeV is observed, which is inconsistent with current theoretical predictions employing nucleon resonance degrees of freedom. A Legendre polynomial decomposition suggests this behavior could be related to the excitation of the d^{*}(2380) hexaquark.
The Dalitz decays η → e+e-γ and ω → π0e+e- have been measured in the γp → ηp and γp → ωp reactions, respectively, with the A2 tagged-photon facility at the Mainz Microtron. The value obtained for the ...slope parameter of the electromagnetic transition form factor of η, Λ$-2\atop{η}$ = (1.97 ± 0.11tot) GeV-2, is in good agreement with previous measurements of the η → e+e-γ and η → μ+μ-γ decays. The uncertainty obtained in the value of Λ$-2\atop{η}$ is lower than in previous results based on the η → e+e-γ decay. The value obtained for the ω slope parameter, Λ$-2\atop{ωπ^0}$ = (1.99 ± 0.21tot) GeV-2, is somewhat lower than previous measurements based on ω → π0μ+μ-, but the results for the ω transition form factor are in better agreement with theoretical calculations, compared to earlier experiments.
The γ n → π 0 n differential cross section evaluated for 27 energy bins span the photon-energy range 290– 813 MeV (W = 1.195–1.553 GeV) and the pion c.m. polar production angles, ranging from 18° to ...162°, making use of model-dependent nuclear corrections to extract π0 production data on the neutron from measurements on the deuteron target. Additionally, the total photoabsorption cross section was measured. The tagged photon beam produced by the 883 MeV electron beam of the Mainz Microtron MAMI was used for the π0-meson production. Our accumulation of 3.6 × 106 γ n → π 0 n events allowed a detailed study of the reaction dynamics. Our data are in reasonable agreement with previous A2 measurements and extend them to lower energies. The data are compared with predictions of previous SAID, MAID, and BnGa partial-wave analyses and to the latest SAID fit MA19 that included our data. Selected photon-decay amplitudes N * → γ n at the resonance poles are determined for the first time.