We present a search at the Jefferson Laboratory for new forces mediated by sub-GeV vector bosons with weak coupling α' to electrons. Such a particle A' can be produced in electron-nucleus ...fixed-target scattering and then decay to an e + e- pair, producing a narrow resonance in the QED trident spectrum. Using APEX test run data, we searched in the mass range 175-250 MeV, found no evidence for an A'→ e+ e- reaction, and set an upper limit of α'/α ~/= 10(-6). Our findings demonstrate that fixed-target searches can explore a new, wide, and important range of masses and couplings for sub-GeV forces.
We report a new determination of the strange quark contribution to the proton's magnetic form factor at a four-momentum transfer Q2=0.1 (GeV/c)2 from parity-violating e–p elastic scattering. The ...result uses a revised analysis of data from the SAMPLE experiment which was carried out at the MIT-Bates Laboratory. The data are combined with a calculation of the proton's axial form factor GeA to determine the strange form factor GsM(Q2=0.1)=0.37±0.20±0.26±0.07. The extrapolation of GsM to its Q2=0 limit and comparison with calculations is also discussed.
We report new measurements of the double-polarized photodisintegration of 3He at an incident photon energy of 16.5 MeV, carried out at the High Intensity γ-ray Source (HIγS) facility located at ...Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL). The spin-dependent double-differential cross sections and the contribution from the three-body channel to the Gerasimov–Drell–Hearn (GDH) integrand were extracted and compared with the state-of-the-art three-body calculations. The calculations, which include the Coulomb interaction and are in good agreement with the results of previous measurements at 12.8 and 14.7 MeV, deviate from the new cross section results at 16.5 MeV. The GDH integrand was found to be about one standard deviation larger than the maximum value predicted by the theories.
Inflammation mediated by activated microglia cells has been shown to contribute to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease (AD) 1. Microglia are the immune cells in the central nervous system, and when ...activated they secrete the lipid-derived mediator prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), the cytokine interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), and other inflammatory mediators. Apolipoprotein E isoform 4 (apoE4), coded for by the gene APOE4 (epsilon4), has been shown to correlate with higher risk of onset of AD, as well as with increased severity of other diseases with a neuroinflammatory component. This study investigated isoform-specific effects of apoE on the regulation of PGE2, COX2, and IL-1beta expression. Two physiologically relevant preparations of apoE displayed an isoform-specific effect on inflammation in primary adult microglia cultured from adult rat brain cortex. Specifically, apoE4 alone, but not the more common isoform apoE3, stimulated secretion of PGE2 and IL-1beta. The increase in PGE2 release stimulated by apoE4 was not accompanied by the upregulation of the COX-2 enzyme in microglia.
We present experimental results of the first high-precision test of quark-hadron duality in the spin-structure function g_{1} of the neutron and 3He using a polarized 3He target in the ...four-momentum-transfer-squared range from 0.7 to 4.0 (GeV/c);{2}. Global duality is observed for the spin-structure function g_{1} down to at least Q;{2}=1.8 (GeV/c);{2} in both targets. We have also formed the photon-nucleon asymmetry A1 in the resonance region for 3He and found no strong Q2 dependence above 2.2 (GeV/c);{2}.
Several approved experiments at Jefferson Lab for the 12 GeV era will use the proposed Solenoid Large Intensity Device (SoLID) spectrometer. Two EM calorimeters with a total area of 15 square meters ...are required for electron identification and electron-pion separation. The challenge is to build calorimeters that can withstand high radiation doses in high magnetic field region and bring photon signals to low field region for readout. Several types of calorimeters were considered and we are favoring Shashlyk type as a result of balancing performance and cost. Our preliminary design and simulation of SoLID EM calorimeters are presented.
The violation of mirror symmetry in the weak force provides a powerful tool to study the internal structure of the proton. Experimental results have been obtained that address the role of strange ...quarks in generating nuclear magnetism. The measurement reported here provides an unambiguous constraint on strange quark contributions to the proton's magnetic moment through the electron-proton weak interaction. We also report evidence for the existence of a parity-violating electromagnetic effect known as the anapole moment of the proton. The proton's anapole moment is not yet well understood theoretically, but it could have important implications for precision weak interaction studies in atomic systems such as cesium.
We have measured the neutron spin asymmetry A{sub 1}{sup n} with high precision at three kinematics in the deep inelastic region at x = 0.33, 0.47 and 0.60, and Q{sup 2} = 2.7, 3.5 and 4.8 ...(GeV/c){sup 2}, respectively. Our results unambiguously show, for the first time, that A{sub 1}{sup n} crosses zero around x = 0.47 and becomes significantly positive at x = 0.60. Combined with the world proton data, polarized quark distributions were extracted. Our results, in general, agree with relativistic constituent quark models and with perturbative quantum chromodynamics (pQCD) analyses based on the earlier data. However they deviate from pQCD predictions based on hadron helicity conservation.
Color polarizabilities of the neutron are extracted from data on the lowest moment of the spin-dependent g1 structure function. New data in the resonance region from Jefferson Lab at Q2≲1 GeV2, in ...combination with world data at higher Q2, allow a systematic determination of the 1/Q2 corrections, and provide the first constraints on 1/Q4 corrections. The results suggest that higher-twist effects in the neutron are small, and that quark–hadron duality may be approximately valid, even down to Q2∼1 GeV2.