exotic nuclei structure and reaction noyaux exotiques ... - IPN - IN2P3
exotic nuclei structure and reaction noyaux exotiques ... - IPN - IN2P3
exotic nuclei structure and reaction noyaux exotiques ... - IPN - IN2P3
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The PVA4 parity violation experiment<br />
<strong>IPN</strong>O Participation: R. Kunne, M. Morlet, S. Ong, J. Van de Wiele<br />
Collaboration : IKP Mainz, LNS-MIT Cambridge<br />
Le but de l’expérience PVA4 est l’extraction de la contribution des quarks étranges aux facteurs de forme<br />
électrique et magnétique du nucléon. Pour se faire, on étudie la diffusion élastique d’électrons polarisés<br />
longitudinalement sur des protons. Les asymétries résultantes sont sensibles à l’interaction faible violant la<br />
parité. Les mesures comprennent des prises de données aux angles avant et arrière, avec des cibles à<br />
hydrogène et à deuterium liquides. L'ensemble des mesures permet la séparation des facteurs de forme<br />
étranges G s E et G s M , ainsi que le facteur de forme axiale G p A . L'augmentation de l'énergie de MAMI à 1500<br />
MeV, donne accès à des valeurs plus élevées de Q 2 .<br />
Parity violation in electron scattering<br />
The PVA4 Collaboration at the MAMI accelerator<br />
in Mainz measures the parity violating asymmetry<br />
in the cross-section of elastic scattering of longitudinally<br />
polarized electrons off unpolarized protons.<br />
The contributions can be expressed in terms of the<br />
strange electric <strong>and</strong> magnetic form factors G s E <strong>and</strong><br />
G s M.<br />
The asymmetry A PV in the cross-section of elastic<br />
scattering of right- <strong>and</strong> left-h<strong>and</strong>ed polarized electrons<br />
off unpolarized protons can be written<br />
(omitting radiative corrections) as a sum of three<br />
terms:<br />
A PV = kinematic factor *(A V + A S + A A ),<br />
where A V represents the asymmetry due to the<br />
vector coupling at the proton vertex without strangeness<br />
contribution, A S is the asymmetry arising<br />
from the strangeness contribution only <strong>and</strong> A A represents<br />
the asymmetry due to the axial coupling<br />
at the proton vertex.<br />
By measuring the asymmetry A PV , <strong>and</strong> using the<br />
known electromagnetic form factors of the nucleon<br />
to determine A V , it is possible to determine A S , assuming<br />
that A A is small. Subsequently a linear<br />
combination of G s E <strong>and</strong> G s M can be derived from<br />
A S . For a separate determination of G s E <strong>and</strong> G s M it<br />
is necessary to perform at least two measurements<br />
at the same momentum transfer Q 2 , but at different<br />
scattering angles. Finally the assumption that A A is<br />
small can be checked by a third measurement on a<br />
deuterium target at the same Q 2 . PVA4 aims at<br />
doing the complete separation using its own data,<br />
by performing all three measurements at a given<br />
Q 2 .<br />
Forward <strong>and</strong> backward angles<br />
The PVA4 experiment has two possible configurations.<br />
In the forward-scattering configuration the<br />
angles from 30-40° are covered <strong>and</strong> the experiment<br />
is sensitive to G s E + ŋ · G s M, where ŋ depends<br />
on Q 2 . In the backward-scattering configura-<br />
Fig. 1: The PVA4 detector in the<br />
backward configuration.<br />
tion, covering angles between 140 <strong>and</strong> 150° the<br />
experiment is mainly sensitive to G s M. The PVA4<br />
collaboration performed two forward angle measurements<br />
at momentum transfers of 0.11 (GeV/c) 2<br />
<strong>and</strong> 0.23 (GeV/c) 2 , while a third one at 0.60 (GeV/<br />
c) 2 is currently under way. A backward-angle measurement<br />
at a momentum transfer of 0.23 (GeV/c) 2<br />
has been performed as well. As A A is not negligible<br />
at backward angles, PVA4 performed also a measurement<br />
on a deuterium target at that momentum<br />
transfer.<br />
Experimental set-up<br />
The experiment is located at the MAMI accelerator<br />
of the Institut für Kernphysik in Mainz, Germany.<br />
An electron source produces a polarized electron<br />
beam with an average polarization of 80%. The<br />
electron beam intensity is 20 μA. The beam polarization<br />
is measured on a regular basis with a Møller<br />
polarimeter. During data taking the polarization is<br />
monitored with a transmission Compton polarimeter<br />
situated in the experimental hall before the<br />
main experiment. The electron spin is r<strong>and</strong>omly<br />
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