We present results on the electroexcitation of the low mass resonances (1232)P 33 , N (1440)P 11 , N (1520)D 13 , and N (1535)S 11 in a wide range of Q 2 . The results were obtained in the comprehensive analysis of data from the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) large acceptance spectrometer (CLAS) detector at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) on differential cross sections, longitudinally polarized beam asymmetries, and longitudinal target and beam-target asymmetries for π electroproduction off the proton. The data were analyzed using two conceptually different approaches-fixed-t dispersion relations and a unitary isobar model-allowing us to draw conclusions on the model sensitivity of the obtained electrocoupling amplitudes. The amplitudes for the (1232)P 33 show the importance of a meson-cloud contribution to quantitatively explain the magnetic dipole strength, as well as the electric and scalar quadrupole transitions. They do not show any tendency of approaching the pQCD regime for Q 2 6 GeV 2 . For the Roper resonance, N (1440)P 11 , the data provide strong evidence that this state is a predominantly radial excitation of a three-quark (3q) ground state. Measured in pion electroproduction, the transverse helicity amplitude for the N (1535)S 11 allowed us to obtain the branching ratios of this state to the πN and ηN channels via comparison with the results extracted from η electroproduction. The extensive CLAS data also enabled the extraction of the γ * p → N (1520)D 13 and N (1535)S 11 longitudinal helicity amplitudes with good precision. For the N (1535)S 11 , these results became a challenge for quark models and may be indicative of large meson-cloud contributions or of representations of this state that differ from a 3q excitation. The transverse amplitudes for the N (1520)D 13 clearly show the rapid changeover from helicity-3/2 dominance at the real photon point to helicity-1/2 dominance at Q 2 > 1 GeV 2 , confirming a long-standing prediction of the constituent quark model.

Information on the size and shape of the neutron skin on (208)Pb is extracted from coherent pion photoproduction cross sections measured using the Crystal Ball detector together with the Glasgow tagger at the MAMI electron beam facility. On exploitation of an interpolated fit of a theoretical model to the measured cross sections, the half-height radius and diffuseness of the neutron distribution are found to be c(n)=6.70±0.03(stat.)  fm and a(n)=0.55±0.01(stat.)(-0.03)(+0.02)(sys.)  fm, respectively, corresponding to a neutron skin thickness Δr(np)=0.15±0.03(stat.)(-0.03)(+0.01)(sys.)  fm. The results give the first successful extraction of a neutron skin thickness with an electromagnetic probe and indicate that the skin of (208)Pb has a halo character. The measurement provides valuable new constraints on both the structure of nuclei and the equation of state for neutron-rich matter.

Differential and total cross sections for the quasifree reactions γp → ηp and γn → ηn have been determined at the MAMI-C electron accelerator using a liquid deuterium target. Photons were produced via bremsstrahlung from the 1.5 GeV incident electron beam and energy-tagged with the Glasgow photon tagger. Decay photons of the neutral decay modes η → 2γ and η → 3π 0 → 6γ and coincident recoil nucleons were detected in a combined setup of the Crystal Ball and the TAPS calorimeters. The η-production cross sections were measured in coincidence with recoil protons, recoil neutrons, and in an inclusive mode without a condition on recoil nucleons, which allowed a check of the internal consistency of the data. The effects from nuclear Fermi motion were removed by a kinematic reconstruction of the final-state invariant mass and possible nuclear effects on the quasifree cross section were investigated by a comparison of free and quasifree proton data. The results, which represent a significant improvement in statistical quality compared to previous measurements, agree with the known neutron-to-proton cross-section ratio in the peak of the S11(1535) resonance and confirm a peak in the neutron cross section, which is absent for the proton, at a center-of-mass energy W = (1670 ± 5) MeV with an intrinsic width of Γ ≈ 30 MeV.

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The reaction γ + p → K + + Σ + π was used to determine the invariant mass distributions or "line shapes" of the Σ + π − , Σ − π + and Σ 0 π 0 final states, from threshold at 1328 MeV/c 2 through the mass range of the Λ(1405) and the Λ(1520). The measurements were made with the CLAS system at Jefferson Lab using tagged real photons, for center-of-mass energies 1.95 < W < 2.85 GeV. The three mass distributions differ strongly in the vicinity of the I = 0 Λ(1405), indicating the presence of substantial I = 1 strength in the reaction. Background contributions to the data from the Σ 0 (1385) and from K * Σ production were studied and shown to have negligible influence. To separate the isospin amplitudes, Breit-Wigner model fits were made that included channel-coupling distortions due to the NK threshold. A best fit to all the data was obtained after including a phenomenological I = 1, J P = 1/2 − amplitude with a centroid at 1394 ± 20 MeV/c 2 and a second I = 1 amplitude at 1413 ± 10 MeV/c 2 . The centroid of the I = 0 Λ(1405) strength was found at the Σπ threshold, with the observed shape determined largely by channel-coupling, leading to an apparent overall peak near 1405 MeV/c 2 .

Abstract. The electric form factor of the neutron, GE,n, has been measured at the Mainz Microtron by recoil polarimetry in the quasielastic D( e, e ′ n)p reaction. Three data points have been extracted at squared four-momentum transfers Q 2 = 0.3, 0.6 and 0.8 (GeV/c) 2 . Corrections for nuclear binding effects have been applied. PACS. 13.40.Gp Electromagnetic form factors -14.20.Dh Protons and neutrons -13.88.+e Polarisation in interactions and scattering

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The photoproduction of η-mesons off nucleons bound in 2 H and 3 He has been measured in coincidence with recoil protons and recoil neutrons for incident photon energies from threshold up to 1.4 GeV. The experiments were performed at the Mainz MAMI accelerator, using the Glasgow tagged photon facility. Decay photons from the η → 2γ and η → 3π 0 decays and the recoil nucleons were detected with an almost 4π electromagnetic calorimeter combining the Crystal Ball and TAPS detectors. The data from both targets are of excellent statistical quality and show a narrow structure in the excitation function of γn → nη. The results from the two measurements are consistent taking into account the expected effects from nuclear Fermi motion. The best estimates for position and intrinsic width of the structure are W = (1670±5) MeV and Γ = (30±15) MeV. For the first time precise results for the angular dependence of this structure have been extracted.