The CEBAF large acceptance spectrometer (CLAS) is used to study photo- and electro-induced nuclear and hadronic reactions by providing efficient detection of neutral and charged particles over a good fraction of the full solid angle. A collaboration of about 30 institutions has designed, assembled, and commissioned CLAS in Hall B at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. The CLAS detector is based on a novel six-coil toroidal magnet which provides a largely azimuthal field distribution. Trajectory reconstruction using drift chambers results in a momentum resolution of 0.5% at forward angles. Cherenkov counters, time-of-flight scintillators, and electromagnetic calorimeters provide good particle identification. Fast triggering and high data-acquisition rates allow operation at a luminosity of View the MathML source. These capabilities are being used in a broad experimental program to study the structure and interactions of mesons, nucleons, and nuclei using polarized and unpolarized electron and photon beams and targets. This paper is a comprehensive and general description of the design, construction and performance of CLAS

In an exclusive measurement of the reaction gammad-->K(+)K(-)pn, a narrow peak that can be attributed to an exotic baryon with strangeness S=+1 is seen in the K(+)n invariant mass spectrum. The peak is at 1.542+/-0.005 GeV/c(2) with a measured width of 0.021 GeV/c(2) FWHM, which is largely determined by experimental mass resolution. The statistical significance of the peak is (5.2+/-0.6)sigma. The mass and width of the observed peak are consistent with recent reports of a narrow S=+1 baryon by other experimental groups.

We report the first results of the beam-spin asymmetry measured in the reaction e⃗p→epγ at a beam energy of 4.25 GeV. A large asymmetry with a sinφ modulation is observed, as predicted for the interference term of deeply virtual compton scattering (DVCS) and the Bethe-Heitler process. The amplitude of this modulation is α = 0.202±0.028. In leading-order and leading-twist perturbative QCD, the α is directly proportional to the imaginary part of the DVCS amplitude

High-statistics cross sections and recoil polarizations for the reactions ␥ + p → K + + ⌳ and ␥ + p → K + + ⌺ 0 have been measured at CLAS for center-of-mass energies between 1.6 and 2.3 GeV. In the K + ⌳ channel we confirm a resonance-like structure near W = 1.9 GeV at backward kaon angles. Our data show more complex sand u-channel behavior than previously seen, since structure is also present at forward angles, but not at central angles. The position and width change with angle, indicating that more than one resonance is playing a role. Large positive ⌳ polarization at backward angles, which is also energy dependent, is consistent with sizable s-or u-channel contributions. Presently available model calculations cannot explain these aspects of the data.

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