Light Vector Meson Photoproduction off of $^1$H at Jefferson Lab

ORAL

Abstract

Modification of light vector mesons in the nuclear medium continues to be a topic of high interest to the nuclear physics community. Results from recent photoproduction and heavy ion collision experiments have shown a clear broadening of the width in medium, but there remains no consensus on whether the meson undergoes a definite mass shift. An experimental study of the elementary free-space processes is necessary for a precise interpretation of prior in-medium analysis, and is valuable input for theoretical models and calculations. In experiment E04-005, high statistics photoproduction data has been taken in Jefferson Lab's CLAS detector with tagged photon energies up to 5 GeV incident on a LH$_2$ target. Preliminary results of the $e^{+}e^{-}$ decay channel, with emphasis on the $\rho$-$\omega$ interference region, will be shown and compared to similar experimental data of photoproduction off of heavier nuclear targets ($^2$H to Pb) from Jefferson Lab experiment E01-112.

Authors

  • Michael Paolone

    University of South Carolina

  • Chaden Djalali

    University of South Carolina

  • Rakhsha Nasseripour

    George Washington University, The George Washington University

  • Dennis Weygand

    Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, Jefferson Laboratory

  • Michael Wood

    Canisius College