Research and Education with GlueX

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This award will support research activity at Thomas Jefferson National Laboratory in Newport News, VA. The PI plays a significant role in a major new experiment known as GlueX (presently under construction, with data taking expected within three or four years), whose focus is the study of meson spectra. The theory of the strong interaction, quantum chromodynamics (QCD), predicts not only the existence of mesons that have been observed over decades of experiments, but also exotic states that are made up of quarks, anti quarks and gluons, as well as glueballs - states made up entirely of gluons. GlueX is specifically designed to help search for such states. The PI has primary responsibility for specific hardware: diamond radiators, photon tagger microscope, and photon collimator, all of which are essential for achieving the full scientific potential of the experiment.The existence of so-called exotics and glueballs is a widely expected consequence of QCD, but as with any theory, confirmation is an essential component in our understanding even of non-exotic matter. Graduate student participation is an important part of the activity, both for the success of the project and for training of future scientific leaders. The hardware development has also engendered important ties with local companies.