[en] Strangeness channels are important in the experimental search for missing resonances. A recent experiment performed at Jefferson Lab (CLAS gl3 run period) used a liquid deuterium target with linearly and circularly polarized tagged photon beams covering energies from threshold to 2.5 GeV. It provides high-quality data (about 52 billion triggers) with good kinematic coverage and several experimental observables available for each reaction channel. We have analyzed a few percent of these data to measure strangeness photoproduction on the neutron, in particular, the γn → K⁺ Σ^- reaction. The exclusive analysis of this reaction along with a very preliminary measurement of the photon beam asymmetry is presented.

[en] Strangeness has been shown to be important for the understanding of the so-called missing resonances. Due to the scarce experimental data in strangeness photoproduction on the neutron, phenomenological models such as coupled-channels analyses resort to certain approximations that do not allow getting either accuracy or agreement between different analyses when extracting resonance parameters. Thus, in order to obtain high-quality data on the neutron channels, a new experiment (designated g13), based on a liquid deuterium target and a polarized photon beam (both circular and linear polarization) covering from threshold to 2.3 GeV has been done at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. In this paper, a brief description of the g13 experiment is given

[en] The exclusive electroproduction of π ⁺ above the resonance region was studied using the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) at Jefferson Laboratory by scattering a 6GeV continuous electron beam off a hydrogen target. The large acceptance and good resolution of CLAS, together with the high luminosity, allowed us to measure the cross section for the γ^*p→nπ ⁺ process in 140 (Q ²,x_B,t) bins: 0.16< x_B<0.58, 1.6 GeV²< Q²<4.5 GeV ² and 0.1 GeV²<-t<5.3 GeV². For most bins, the statistical accuracy is on the order of a few percent. Differential cross sections are compared to four theoretical models, based either on hadronic or on partonic degrees of freedom. The four models can describe the gross features of the data reasonably well, but differ strongly in their ingredients. In particular, the model based on Generalized Parton Distributions (GPDs) contain the interesting potential to experimentally access transversity GPDs. (orig.)

[en] The light vector mesons (ρ,ω, and φ) were produced in deuterium, carbon, titanium, and iron targets in a search for possible in-medium modifications to the properties of the ρ meson at normal nuclear densities and zero temperature. The vector mesons were detected with the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) via their decays to e⁺e^-. The rare leptonic decay was chosen to reduce final-state interactions. A combinatorial background was subtracted from the invariant mass spectra using a well-established event-mixing technique. The ρ-meson mass spectrum was extracted after the ω and φ signals were removed in a nearly model-independent way. Comparisons were made between the ρ mass spectra from the heavy targets (A>2) with the mass spectrum extracted from the deuterium target. With respect to the ρ-meson mass, we obtain a small shift compatible with zero. Also, we measure widths consistent with standard nuclear many-body effects such as collisional broadening and Fermi motion

[en] The two-body photodisintegration of ⁴He into a proton and a triton has been studied using the CEBAF Large-Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. Real photons produced with the Hall-B bremsstrahlung-tagging system in the energy range from 0.35 to 1.55 GeV were incident on a liquid ⁴He target. This is the first measurement of the photodisintegration of ⁴He above 0.4 GeV. The differential cross sections for the γ⁴He→pt reaction were measured as a function of photon-beam energy and proton-scattering angle and are compared with the latest model calculations by J.-M. Laget. At 0.6-1.2 GeV, our data are in good agreement only with the calculations that include three-body mechanisms, thus confirming their importance. These results reinforce the conclusion of our previous study of the three-body breakup of ³He that demonstrated the great importance of three-body mechanisms in the energy region 0.5-0.8 GeV.

[en] Differential cross sections for the reaction γp→K*⁰Σ⁺ are presented in the photon energy range of 1.7 to 3.0 GeV. The K*⁰ was detected by its decay products, K⁺π^-, in the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility's large acceptance spectrometer (CLAS) detector at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. These data are the first K*⁰ photoproduction cross sections ever published over a broad range of angles. Comparison with a theoretical model based on the vector and tensor K*-quark couplings shows good agreement with the data, except at forward angles, suggesting that the role of scalar κ meson exchange should be investigated

[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] Because of their long lifetimes, the ω and φ mesons are the ideal candidates for the study of possible modifications of the in-medium meson-nucleon interaction through their absorption inside the nucleus. During the E01-112 experiment at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, the mesons were photoproduced from ²H, C, Ti, Fe, and Pb targets. This Letter reports the first measurement of the ratio of nuclear transparencies for the e⁺e^- channel. The ratios indicate larger in-medium widths compared with what have been reported in other reaction channels. The absorption of the ω meson is stronger than that reported by the CBELSA-TAPS experiment and cannot be explained by recent theoretical models.

[en] High-quality cross sections for the reaction γd→π⁰d have been measured using the CLAS at Jefferson Lab over a wide energy range near and above the η-meson photoproduction threshold. At backward c.m. angles for the outgoing pions, we observe a resonance-like structure near E_γ=700 MeV. Our model analysis shows that it can be explained by η excitation in the intermediate state. The effect is the result of the contribution of the N(1535)S₁₁-resonance to the amplitudes of the subprocesses occurring between the two nucleons and of a two-step process in which the excitation of an intermediate η-meson dominates. (orig.)

[en] The ep→e'pρ⁰ reaction has been measured using the 5.754 GeV electron beam of Jefferson Lab and the CLAS detector. This represents the largest ever set of data for this reaction in the valence region. Integrated and differential cross-sections are presented. The W, Q² and t dependences of the cross-section are compared to theoretical calculations based on the t-channel meson-exchange Regge theory, on the one hand, and on quark handbag diagrams related to Generalized Parton Distributions (GPDs) on the other hand. The Regge approach can describe at the ∼30% level most of the features of the present data while the two GPD calculations that are presented in this article which succesfully reproduce the high-energy data strongly underestimate the present data. The question is then raised whether this discrepancy originates from an incomplete or inexact way of modelling the GPDs or the associated hard scattering amplitude or whether the GPD formalism is simply inapplicable in this region due to higher-twists contributions, incalculable at present. (orig.)