Investigations in Intermediate Energy Physics

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This award supports research activities by the nuclear physics group at North Carolina A&T State University (NCA&T) on two experimental programs to be carried out at Jefferson Lab, the Moller experiment and the Nucleon form factor program. The Moller experiment measures the parity-violating asymmetry (Apv) in the scattering of longitudinally polarized 11-GeV electrons off the atomic electrons in a liquid hydrogen target (Moller scattering). The expected precision on the measured parity-violating asymmetry (Apv) is 0.73 part per billion. This very high accuracy measurement will help precisely determine the fundamental quantity for the standard model, the weak mixing angle. This measurement can complement potential discoveries at the Large Hadron Collider (CERN), which explore new physics beyond the Standard Model. The nucleon Form Factor (FF) program is dedicated to the measurement of the neutron electromagnetic form factor ratio GEn/GMn in double polarized, quasi-elastic 3He(e,e'n)pp scattering at momentum transfers Q2 of 5-10.2 (GeV/c)2, and the neutron to the proton magnetic form factor ratio GMn/GMp in quasi-elastic scattering off the deuteron at Q2 up to 18 (GeV/c)2. Elastic electromagnetic Form factors of the nucleon (proton or neutron) provide key information on the structure and composition nature of the nucleon, as well as on the dynamics of its basic constituents, i.e. quarks and gluons. A detailed and systematic study of the structure of the nucleon is of paramount importance for the understanding of nuclear matter. The NCA&T group will take a leading role in designing and building a pion detector for the Moller experiment. The detector will determine the asymmetry of the pion background, which is essential to controlling the systematical error on the measured asymmetry Apv. For the FF program, the group will build a timing scintillator hodoscope needed for the reconstruction of the time-of-flight of the nucleon. The group will participate in the detector and software development effort, simulation, data taking and data analysis for the two programs. Undergraduate and graduate students will play a major role in all these activities.North Carolina A&T State University is a historically black university (HBCU). Ninety percent of the student population is African American. These students have been traditionally underrepresented in physics. This research program will provide them with unique research opportunities in experimental nuclear physics, and therefore will have a strong impact on their training and education. The program is highly interdisciplinary. It includes work with both hardware and software i.e., electronics, nuclear detector systems, optics, computer simulation, data acquisition, and data analysis. This award will help train and support two undergraduate and one graduate students each year. Students will be exposed to state-of-the-art facilities, will use cutting-edge equipment, and will interact with scientists from other national and international universities. In this respect, this research program will be very effective in attracting African Americans and other under-represented groups to advanced degrees in physics and engineering, and will, therefore, contribute to greater diversity in the field of nuclear physics.