Exploring Fundamental Properties of Matter with Electromagnetic Probes

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With the award, Dr. Michael Kohl, assistant professor in the experimental nuclear physics group of Hampton University, will be able to continue to pursue the OLYMPUS experiment at DESY in Hamburg, Germany, and to maintain and expand his leadership role as the elected OLYMPUS spokesperson. The OLYMPUS experiment at DESY, Germany, will precisely measure the ratio of elastic positron-proton and electron-proton scattering cross sections. With this measurement, OLYMPUS will definitively determine the effect of two-photon exchange in lepton-proton scattering and hence verify if it is indeed responsible for the discrepancy in measurements of the proton electric to magnetic form factor ratio between the polarization transfer and cross section methods as observed at Jefferson Lab. Without such a definitive test, not only the electromagnetic form factors but the interpretations of all electron scattering data, usually done in the framework of single-photon exchange, are under considerable doubt. The OLYMPUS experiment has been prepared since official approval by DESY and of the US funding by NSF and DOE in 2010 and has taken first data in Februry 2012. It is scheduled for further running in fall 2012. The OLYMPUS apparatus is to a large extent based on the previous BLAST detector from MIT, which has been relocated to DESY and reassembled. Several components were upgraded or newly added, such as the new Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) based forward elastic tracking telescopes for luminosity monitoring, which have been built by Dr. Kohl's new group at Hampton University with help of NSF funding. The operation and maintenance of the GEM detectors and future analysis of this essential component of OLYMPUS has been and continues to be the main institutional responsibility of the Hampton group.Dr. Kohl's research program has many facets and offers a great opportunity for first class education and research purpose domestically and abroad. This project will continue to combine utilization of a new lab on the campus of Hampton University with forefront research at the sites of large research facilities such as DESY and Jefferson Lab, and provide new research and educational opportunities for students from minority populations, predominantly African-Americans. Dr. Kohl has been successfully working with Hampton University undergraduate and graduate students and has been a dedicated mentor for the postdoctoral researchers of the Hampton group. Dr. Kohl has been maintaining a strong partnership with MIT, which has a goal of providing a pipeline of talented undergraduate students toward graduate education in top schools and to ultimately increase the number of African-American PhDs.