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The Q-weak experiment aims to measure the weak charge of proton with a precision of 4.2%. The proposed precision on weak charge required a 2.5% measurement of the parity violating asymmetry in elastic electron - proton scattering. Polarimetry was the largest experimental contribution to this uncertainty and a new Compton polarimeter was installed in Hall C at Jefferson Lab to make the goal achievable. In this polarimeter the electron beam collides with green laser light in a low gain Fabry- Perot Cavity; the scattered electrons are detected in 4 planes of a novel diamond micro strip detector while the back scattered photons are detected in lead tungstate crystals. This diamond micro-strip detector is the first such device to be used as a tracking detector in a nuclear and particle physics experiment. The diamond detectors are read out using custom built electronic modules that include a preamplifier, a pulse shaping amplifier and a discriminator for each detector micro-strip. We use field programmable gate array based general purpose logic modules for event selection and histogramming. Extensive Monte Carlo simulations and data acquisition simulations were performed to estimate the systematic uncertainties. Additionally, the Moller and Compton polarimeters were cross calibrated at low electron beam currents using a series of interleaved measurements. In this dissertation, we describe all the subsystems of the Compton polarimeter with emphasis on the electron detector. We focus on the FPGA based data acquisition system built by the author and the data analysis methods implemented by the author. The simulations of the data acquisition and the polarimeter that helped rigorously establish the systematic uncertainties of the polarimeter are also elaborated, resulting in the first sub 1% measurement of low energy ( 1 GeV) electron beam polarization with a Compton electron detector. We have demonstrated that diamond based micro-strip detectors can be used for tracking in a high radiation environment and it has enabled us to achieve the desired precision in the measurement of the electron beam polarization which in turn has allowed the most precise determination of the weak charge of the proton.

Color Transparency $(CT)$ is a unique prediction of Quantum Chromodynamics $(QCD)$ where the final (and/or initial) state interactions of hadrons with the nuclear medium are suppressed for exclusive processes at high momentum transfers. While this phenomenon has been observed for mesons, there has never been a conclusive observation for baryons. A clear signal of $CT$ for baryons would be the first evidence of baryons fluctuating to a small size in the nucleus, and the onset would show the transition from nucleon-meson picture to quark-gluon degrees of freedom. The experiment $E1206107$, searching for the onset of $CT$ in protons was completed in $Hall ~C$ at Jefferson Laboratory $(JLab)$ using the upgraded $12 ~GeV ~e^{-}$ beam. It used the High Momentum Spectrometer $(HMS)$ and the new Super High Momentum spectrometer $(SHMS)$ in coincidence to measure the $e+^{12}C \longrightarrow e'+p+X$ reaction in quasi-elastic kinematics. Data were collected on a $^{12}C$ target over the range of $Q^2=8-14.3~(GeV/c)^{2}$, covering the region where a previous $p+A \longrightarrow p'+p+X$ experiment at Brookhaven National Laboratory $(BNL)$ had observed an enhancement. Proton Transparency (PT) was extracted from these data. A rise in the $PT$ as a function of $Q^2$ (defined as the square of the negative of the 4-momentum transfer by the scattered electron) is predicted to be a signature of the onset of $CT$. Our data showed no significant increase and consistent with the traditional nuclear physics calculation. This \MakeLowercase{\doctype} discusses the theory and implementation of the $CT$ experiment, summarizes the data analysis and presents results on hydrogen normalization and nuclear transparency.

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The main objective of this thesis is to perform a study of and optimize the most direct and practical gas mixture composition inside the Radial Time Projection Chamber for the Barely-Offshell Nucleon Structure (BONuS 12) detector for use in the CLAS 12 detector in Experimental Hall B at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab). The optimization of these conditions will enhance the performance and resolution of the detector. The original BONuS 6 experiment utilized a gas composition of 80 % He and 20% Dimethyl Ether (DME). With the extensive 12 GeV energy upgrade constructed at JLab and the new BONuS 12 detector established , it is imperative that the gas composition utilized, is best suited to facilitate the experimental needs and demands. BONuS 12 is an experiment designed to measure the momentum of recoiling spectator protons down to 70 MeV/c. This technique will extract the structure function Fn 2 at large x from 0.1 up to 0.8 over a significant range in Q2 and W from the nucleon mass, with a beam energy of 11 GeV, enabling us to essentially select free neutrons.

The CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer for the 12 GeV era, known as CLAS12, uses the time of flight (TOF) system to identify charged particles from scattering events between the beam and target. The TOF system is divided into two parts: The Forward time of flight system, and the Central time of flight system. These two sub-systems subtend different polar angles of the detector geometry for wide acceptance of scattered particles. Reconstruction is the service used to identify particles from the interactions between the beam and target, called as a vertex or the point where the interaction occurs. The vertex position is traced back using the tracking system and the TOF system. The resolution of the detector affects the accuracy of the reconstructed vertex location. This paper’s goal will be to develop software for validation suite for CLAS12, which will include central and forward tracking plots. Plots will be developed to check the precision of the reconstructed vertices in both the central and forward detectors. This will be done assuming a target with zero dimension at 𝑣𝑧 = 0, and an extended target of 5 cm at 𝑣𝑧 = 0. This paper will also look at the TOF resolution, and identify particles using the TOF detectors and the effect of the vertex correction on the velocity vs. momentum plots.

Ce document décrit les récents résultats expérimentaux sur la structure en spin du nucléon obtenus auprès de l'accélérateur d'électrons Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab) en Virginie. Après avoir discuté la finalité de l'étude la structure en spin du nucléon et donnés les définitions de base, nous expliquons la phénoménologie de la diffusion de leptons. Nous détaillons ensuite certaines règles de somme, un outil central pour l'étude du spin du nucléon à Jefferson Lab, puis exposons la situation expérimentale actuelle. Suivent une présentation et discussion des résultats correspondants puis un exemple de résultat de l'étude du nucléon et ses conséquences sur notre compréhension de l'interaction forte. Nous concluons ce document sur les perspectives expérimentales dans ce domaine de recherche, en particulier avec la prochaine augmentation en énergie de Jefferson Lab.

The GlueX experiment aims to study meson photoproduction while utilizing the coherent bremsstrahlung technique to produce a 9 GeV linearly polarized photon beam incident on a liquid $\mathrm{H_{2}}$ target. A Start Counter detector was fabricated to properly identify the accelerator electron beam buckets and to provide accurate timing information. The Start Counter detector was designed to operate at photon intensities of up to $\mathrm{10^{8}\gamma/s}$ in the coherent peak and provides a timing resolution $\mathrm{\sim 300\ ps}$ so as to provide successful identification of the electron beam buckets to within 99\% accuracy. Furthermore, the Start Counter detector provides excellent solid angle coverage, $\sim 90 \%\ \mathrm{of}\ 4 \pi\ \mathrm{hermeticity}$, and a high degree of segmentation for background rejection. It consists of a cylindrical array of 30 scintillators with pointed ends that bend towards the beam at the downstream end. Magnetic field insensitive silicon photomultiplier detectors were selected as the readout system. An initial measurement of the beam asymmetry $\Sigma$ in the exclusive reaction $\vec{\gamma}p \rightarrow \pi^{0}p$, where $\pi^{0} \rightarrow \gamma \gamma$ has been carried out utilizing the GlueX spectrometer during the Spring 2015 commissioning run. The tagged photon energies ranged from $2.5 \leq E_{\gamma} \leq 3.0\ \mathrm{GeV}$ in the coherent peak. These measurements were then compared to the world data set and show remarkable agreement with only two hours of physics production running.

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In the Jefferson Lab E12-16-007 (J/psi-007) experiment we measured the differential J/psi photo-production cross section as a function of photon energy, E_gamma and Mandelstam variable t - the momentum transfer from the initial photon to the produced J/psi - in the energy region where all the charm pentaquark states were discovered by the LHCb (Large Hadron Collider beauty) collaboration. The J/psi-007 experiment was conducted in the experimental Hall C of the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility using a high-intensity real photon beam generated by a 10.6 GeV incident electron beam traversing a copper radiator upstream of a liquid hydrogen target. Two arm spectrometers of Hall C, HMS (High Momentum Spectrometer), and SHMS (Super High Momentum Spectrometer) were used to detect the e+ e- di-lepton J/psi decay pairs in coincidence. The spectrometers' four momentum and angle settings scanned a photon beam energy range between 9.1 and 10.6 GeV and |t| up to 5 GeV^2. An enhanced sensitivity to the s-channel resonant J/psi photo-production was achieved by optimizing the spectrometer settings at a higher t region where the non-resonant standard t-channel J/psi production cross section is strongly suppressed. No evidence for pentaquarks was observed and, the cross section upper limits for each LHCb pentaquark candidate were determined and are presented in this document. / Physics