Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Physics, 2016. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 185-190). / Elastic electron-proton scattering has long been the tool of choice for the study of the proton form factors, GE(Q 2 ) and GM(Q2 ), which describe the electric and magnetic distributions of the proton as a function of momentum transfer. Recent experiments, measuring the form factors from polarization observables in polarized elastic electron-proton scattering, have found values of the ratio GE(Q2 )/GM(Q2) at high Q2 that contradict the results from unpolarized measurements. A proposed explanation for this discrepancy is the unaccounted two-photon exchange radiative correction, which could affect the unpolarized measurements. As this effect is currently not possible to calculate in a model-independent way, the OLYMPUS experiment was designed to make a direct measurement of it by measuring the elastic positron-proton to electron-proton scattering cross section ratio. The experiment was run in 2012 at DESY using the BLAST spectrometer and the DORIS positron and electron beams at 2 GeV incident on a gaseous hydrogen target. To analyze the data, a careful reconstruction of the scattering events, detailed simulation of the experimental setup, and full radiative corrections to the measured cross sections were performed. Preliminary results for the experiment show a statistically significant two-photon exchange effect, increasing over the measurement range of 0.6 GeV2 < Q2 < 2.35 GeV2 . These preliminary results suggest that two-photon exchange could explain the GE(Q2)/Gm(Q2 ) puzzle. / by Rebecca Lynn Russell. / Ph. D.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MIT/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/107042 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Russell, Rebecca Lynn |
| Contributors | Richard G. Milner., Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics., Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics. |
| Publisher | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Source Sets | M.I.T. Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 190 pages, application/pdf |
| Rights | MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission., http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 |
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