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MeV-GeV dark matter (DM) is theoretically well motivated but remarkably unexplored. This proposal presents the MeV-GeV DM discovery potential for a ∼1 m 3 segmented CsI(Tl) scintillator detector placed downstream of the Hall A beam-dump at Jefferson Lab, receiving up to 10 22 electrons-on-target (EOT) in 285 days. This experiment (Beam-Dump eXperiment or BDX) would be sensitive to elastic DM-electron and to inelastic DM scattering at the level of 10 counts per year, reaching the limit of the neutrino irreducible background. The distinct signature of a DM interaction will be an electromagnetic shower of few hundreds of MeV, together with a reduced activity in the surrounding active veto counters. A detailed description of the DM particle χ production in the dump and subsequent interaction in the detector has been performed by means of Monte Carlo simulations. Different approaches have been used to evaluate the expected backgrounds: the cosmogenic background has been extrapolated from the results obtained with a prototype detector running at INFN-LNS (Italy), while the beam-related background has been evaluated by GEANT4 Monte Carlo simulations. The proposed experiment will be sensitive to large regions of DM parameter space, exceeding the discovery potential of existing and planned experiments in the MeV-GeV DM mass range by up to two orders of magnitude. 4We propose a beam-dump experiment to search for light (MeV-GeV) Dark Matter (DM). DM in this mass range is motivated by both experimental and theoretical considerations. On the theory side, simple extensions to the Standard Model (SM) can accommodate DM-SM interactions that yield the observed DM cosmological abundance. On the experimental side, such models also generically feature particles that explain the currently discrepant value of the muon's anomalous magnetic moment and resolve anomalies in astrophysical observations, while simultaneously evading cosmological and direct-production constraints.This experiment could be performed by placing a detector downstream of one of the JLab experimental Halls to detect DM particles that could be produced by the electron beam in the dump, pass through surrounding shielding material, and deposit visible energy inside the detector by scattering off various target particles or -if unstable -by decaying inside the detector volume. A new underground facility placed ∼ 20m downstream of the beam dump of the experimental Hall-A will host the detector, serving as a general-purpose facility for any future beam-dump experiments. The run would be completely parasitic without affecting the normal operations and the physics program of the Hall. The most striking signal that this experiment would look for consists of events with ∼ GeV electromagnetic energy deposition. With the detector and the experimental set-up we are proposing, this signal will be easily detected over a negligible background. This striking signature can arise in two classes of models: in those where DM scatters elastically off atomic electrons in the detector, an...

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Short-range correlated (SRC) nucleon pairs are a vital part of the nucleus, accounting for almost all nucleons with momentum greater than the Fermi momentum (k_{F}). A fundamental characteristic of SRC pairs is having large relative momenta as compared to k_{F}, and smaller center of mass (c.m.) which indicates a small separation distance between the nucleons in the pair. Determining the c.m. momentum distribution of SRC pairs is essential for understanding their formation process. We report here on the extraction of the c.m. motion of proton-proton (pp) SRC pairs in carbon and, for the first time in heavier and ansymetric nuclei: aluminum, iron, and lead, from measurements of the A(e,e^{'}pp) reaction. We find that the pair c.m. motion for these nuclei can be described by a three-dimensional Gaussian with a narrow width ranging from 140 to 170  MeV/c, approximately consistent with the sum of two mean-field nucleon momenta. Comparison with calculations appears to show that the SRC pairs are formed from mean-field nucleons in specific quantum states.