Towards Femtography of the Proton

Salina Ali
PhD Candidate
The Catholic University of America 
Department of Physics 

Wed, November 6, 2019 - 4:00 PM
Karl Herzfeld Auditorium of Hannan Hall - Rm 108

Understanding the structure of the atom in terms of its most basic constituents, the quarks and gluons, is one of the thrusts of 21st century physics research. Just as the earth orbits around the Sun while simultaneously spinning about its own axis, the quarks and gluons in a proton could have linear motion, orbital motion, and spin – the latter two responsible for the overall proton spin that is exploited daily in thousands of MRI images worldwide. Experimentally, one cannot isolate the quarks and gluons, but one can infer their properties from experiments on nuclei, e.g. protons. High-energy electron beam experiments leading to a final state of a completely-measured set of only a few particles allow to image the deep inside structure of the proton. This is the topic of a new science direction termed "nuclear femtography". In this talk I will discuss an experimental study using exclusive reactions, processes in which the deep inside of the proton is studied with a highly-energetic electron probe by a completely-measured set of only a few particles, e.g. a photon or a neutral pion. I will describe the experimental setup in Hall A of Jefferson Lab, calibrations, and a first look at preliminary extractions of the polarized and unpolarized neutral pion electroproduction cross sections from the DVCS-3 (E12-06-114).

Refreshments served at 3:45 PM

If you have any questions about the Colloquium Series  or would like to make a donation please contact the Physics Department, cua-physics@cua.edu or (202) 319-5315.