[en] We have measured the differential cross section for the γ³He→π⁺t reaction. This reaction was studied using the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) at Jefferson Lab. Real photons produced with the Hall-B bremsstrahlung tagging system in the energy range from 0.50 to 1.55 GeV were incident on a cryogenic liquid ³He target. The differential cross sections for the γ³He→π⁺t reaction were measured as a function of photon-beam energy and pion-scattering angle. Theoretical predictions to date cannot explain the large cross sections except at backward angles, showing that additional components must be added to the model.

[en] A liquid helium target system was designed and built to perform a precision measurement of the parity-violating neutron spin rotation in helium due to the nucleon-nucleon weak interaction. The measurement employed a beam of low energy neutrons that passed through a crossed neutron polarizer-analyzer pair with the liquid helium target system located between them. Changes between the target states generated differences in the beam transmission through the polarizer-analyzer pair. The amount of parity-violating spin rotation was determined from the measured beam transmission asymmetries. The expected parity-violating spin rotation of order 10^-6rad placed severe constraints on the target design. In particular, isolation of the parity-odd component of the spin rotation from a much larger background rotation caused by magnetic fields required that a nonmagnetic cryostat and target system be supported inside the magnetic shielding, while allowing nonmagnetic motion of liquid helium between separated target chambers. This paper provides a detailed description of the design, function, and performance of the liquid helium target system.

[en] Measurements of parity-violating neutron spin rotation can provide insight into the poorly understood nucleon-nucleon weak interaction. Because the expected rotation angle per unit length is small (10^-7 rad/m), several properties of the polarized cold neutron beam phase space and the neutron optical elements of the polarimeter must be measured to quantify possible systematic effects. This paper presents (1) an analysis of a class of possible systematic uncertainties in neutron spin rotation measurements associated with the neutron polarimetry, and (2) measurements of the relevant neutron beam properties (intensity distribution, energy spectrum, and the product of the neutron beam polarization and the analyzing power as a function of the beam phase space properties) on the NG-6 cold neutron beam-line at the National Institute of Standards and Technology Center for Neutron Research. We conclude that the phase space nonuniformities of the polarimeter in this beam are small enough that a parity-violating neutron spin rotation measurement in n-⁴He with systematic uncertainties at the 10^-7 rad/m level is possible.

[en] We have studied spin observables in the three-body break-up reaction in deuteron–deuteron scattering in the phase-space regime that corresponds to the quasi-free deuteron–proton scattering process with the neutron as spectator. The data are compared to measurements of the elastic deuteron–proton scattering process and state-of-the-art Faddeev calculations. The results for iT₁₁ and T₂₂ for the quasi-free scattering data agree very well with previously published elastic-scattering data. A significant discrepancy is found for T₂₀, which could point to a break-down of the quasi-free assumption