We present the first measurement of the Q^2-dependence of the neutron spin structure function g_2^n at five kinematic points covering 0.57 (GeV/c)^2 <= Q^2 <= 1.34 (GeV/c)^2 at x~0.2. Though the naive quark-parton model predicts g_2=0, non-zero values for g_2 occur in more realistic models of the nucleon which include quark-gluon correlations, finite quark masses or orbital angular momentum. When scattering from a non-interacting quark, $g_2^n$ can be predicted using next-to-leading order fits to world data for g_1^n. Deviations from this prediction provide an opportunity to examine QCD dynamics in nucleon structure. Our results show a positive deviation from this prediction at lower Q^2, indicating that contributions such as quark-gluon interactions may be important. Precision data obtained for g_1^n are consistent with next-to-leading order fits to world data.
Measured values of G1N ang G2N.
We have measured the differential cross section for the gamma n --> pi- p and gamma p --> pi+ n reactions at center of mass angle of 90 degree in the photon energy range from 1.1 to 5.5 GeV at Jefferson Lab (JLab). The data at photon energies greater than 3.3 GeV exhibit a global scaling behavior for both pi- and pi+ photoproduction, consistent with the constituent counting rule and the existing pi+ photoproduction data. Possible oscillations around the scaling value are suggested by these new data The data show enhancement in the scaled cross section at a center-of-mass energy near 2.2 GeV. The cross section ratio of exclusive pi- to pi+ photoproduction at high energy is consistent with the prediction based on one-hard-gluon-exchange diagrams.
Differential cross section at THETA(CM) = 90 degrees.
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