The Beam-Helicity Asymmetry for Two Pseudoscalar Mesons in Photoproduction and a Partial Wave Analysis for Excited Hyperons

Abstract

This dissertation, written by Rafael A. Badui-Cruz, and entitled The Beam-Helicity Asymmetry for γp → pπ + π − and γp → pK + K − and a Partial Wave Analysis for Excited Hyperons, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment.We have read this dissertation and recommend that it be approved. The work environment that they developed have helped maximize the productivity of many students, including myself. I appreciate the trust that they placed in me and it has been a pleasure to be a part of their team.I would like to thank the members of the g12 group, especially to Johann Goetz, Michael Kunkel, Carlos Salgado, and Diane Schott for their vast expertise in all g12 related aspects and the patience they had assisting me. production. The production mechanism for strange hadrons is not well understood. The beam-helicity asymmetry is a polarization observable that provides information on interfering production mechanisms in the reaction. It is shown that the asymmetry is sensitive to several kinematic variables that are key in modeling the reaction dynamics. Furthermore, the comparison of the beam-helicity asymmetry between the kaon and pion channels serves as a platform for the investigation of flavor dependence. A partial wave analysis on the pK − system is also performed in a search for missing hyperon excitations.

Antibaryon Photoproduction using CLAS at Jefferson Lab

“…Studying the production mechanism through interpreting the cross section using theoretical models is already in progress with plans to expand the models used [14]. Measuring beam helicity asymmetry has already been shown to be sensitive to resonances and may prove to be useful in uncovering how pp pairs are produced [31,32]. Finally, a future partial wave analysis could help the understanding of the production mechanism by extracting production amplitudes for various intermediate states [33].…”