We report a precision measurement of the parity-violating asymmetry APV in the elastic scattering of longitudinally polarized electrons from 208Pb. We measure APV= 550 ± 16 (stat) ±8 (syst) parts per ...billion, leading to an extraction of the neutral weak form factor FW(Q2= 0.00616 GeV2) = 0.368 ± 0.013. Combined with our previous measurement, the extracted neutron skin thickness is Rn-Rp= 0.283 ± 0.071 fm. The result also yields the first significant direct measurement of the interior weak density of 208Pb: ρ$^0_W$ = -0.0796 ± 0.0036(exp) ± 0.0013(theo) fm-3 leading to the interior baryon density ρ$^0_b$ = 0.1480 ± 0.0036(exp) ± 0.0013(theo) fm-3. Finally, the measurement accurately constrains the density dependence of the symmetry energy of nuclear matter near saturation density, with implications for the size and composition of neutron stars.
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.
New Jefferson Lab data are presented on the nuclear dependence of the inclusive cross section from (2)H, (3)He, (4)He, (9)Be and (12)C for 0.3 < x < 0.9, Q(2) approximately 3-6 GeV(2). These data ...represent the first measurement of the EMC effect for (3)He at large x and a significant improvement for (4)He. The data do not support previous A-dependent or density-dependent fits to the EMC effect and suggest that the nuclear dependence of the quark distributions may depend on the local nuclear environment.
A
bstract
A comprehensive set of azimuthal single-spin and double-spin asymmetries in semi-inclusive leptoproduction of pions, charged kaons, protons, and antiprotons from transversely polarized ...protons is presented. These asymmetries include the previously published HERMES results on Collins and Sivers asymmetries, the analysis of which has been extended to include protons and antiprotons and also to an extraction in a three-dimensional kinematic binning and enlarged phase space. They are complemented by corresponding results for the remaining four single-spin and four double-spin asymmetries allowed in the one-photon-exchange approximation of the semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering process for target-polarization orientation perpendicular to the direction of the incoming lepton beam. Among those results, significant non-vanishing cos (
ϕ−ϕ
S
) modulations provide evidence for a sizable worm-gear (II) distribution,
g
1
T
q
x
p
T
2
. Most of the other modulations are found to be consistent with zero with the notable exception of large sin (
ϕ
S
) modulations for charged pions and
K
+
.
Backward-angle meson electroproduction above the resonance region, which was previously ignored, is anticipated to offer unique access to the three quark plus sea component of the nucleon wave ...function. In this Letter, we present the first complete separation of the four electromagnetic structure functions above the resonance region in exclusive ω electroproduction off the proton, ep→e′pω, at central Q2 values of 1.60, 2.45 GeV2, at W=2.21 GeV. The results of our pioneering −u≈−umin study demonstrate the existence of a unanticipated backward-angle cross section peak and the feasibility of full L/T/LT/TT separations in this never explored kinematic territory. At Q2=2.45 GeV2, the observed dominance of σT over σL, is qualitatively consistent with the collinear QCD description in the near-backward regime, in which the scattering amplitude factorizes into a hard subprocess amplitude and baryon to meson transition distribution amplitudes: universal nonperturbative objects only accessible through backward-angle kinematics.
We report precision determinations of the beam-normal single spin asymmetries (A_{n}) in the elastic scattering of 0.95 and 2.18 GeV electrons off ^{12}C, ^{40}Ca, ^{48}Ca, and ^{208}Pb at very ...forward angles where the most detailed theoretical calculations have been performed. The first measurements of A_{n} for ^{40}Ca and ^{48}Ca are found to be similar to that of ^{12}C, consistent with expectations and thus demonstrating the validity of theoretical calculations for nuclei with Z≤20. We also report A_{n} for ^{208}Pb at two new momentum transfers (Q^{2}) extending the previous measurement. Our new data confirm the surprising result previously reported, with all three data points showing significant disagreement with the results from the Z≤20 nuclei. These data confirm our basic understanding of the underlying dynamics that govern A_{n} for nuclei containing ≲50 nucleons, but point to the need for further investigation to understand the unusual A_{n} behavior discovered for scattering off ^{208}Pb.