Nuclear Physics Experiments with the Electro-weak Probe

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The medium-energy nuclear experimental program planned by the Ohio University group aims to answer the questions: "How does subatomic matter organize itself inside a proton or neutron" and "Are the fundamental interactions relating to the structure of proton or neutron fully understood". Both questions are central to nuclear physics and are discussed in the 2013 report of the National Research Council on the Assessment of and Outlook for Nuclear Physics. Specifically, the PI's research focuses on the study of the internal structure of protons and neutrons. This structure is governed by the strong force, which is one of the four fundamental forces of Nature. The PIs will study the limits of our understanding of these four forces by looking for physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. They will work with an electron beam colliding with a neutron target at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab). The research will be performed by two graduate students, two undergraduate students, and the PIs. The broader impacts of the program are multifold, including training the next generation of scientists, raising the profile of minority scientists (especially mentoring women in STEM) and engaging the public through STEM education for High School students. Roche is a co-spokesperson of two JLab experiments dedicated to the study of the internal structure of the proton within the Generalized Parton Distributions framework. The group will finish the analysis of the Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering (DVCS) experiment in Hall A and prepare for data-taking of a second generation of DVCS experiments in Hall C. King is a leader of the data acquisition and software work for Parity Violating experiments searching for physics beyond the Standard Model. King will continue to coordinate the analysis efforts of the QWEAK collaboration leading to the publication of several papers. Under his leadership, members of the group will take and analyze data for the PREXII/CREX experiments that will start data in the summer of 2019.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.