The fundamental goal of nuclear science is to understand all forms of nuclear matter, e.g., the origin and structure of the nucleus at core of the atom, and the nucleons and their quark and gluon constituents which account for nearly all of the mass of the visible universe. Over the last decade, hard exclusive reactions have emerged as a class of processes providing novel information on the parton (quark and gluon) distributions in hadrons - the particles sensitive to the strong force. Factorization theorems allow for expressing amplitudes in terms of the Generalized Parton Distributions (GPDs), which are expected to provide a universal description of nucleon structure in both momentum and coordinate space. Experimentally, access to the transverse spatial structure relies on asymptotic freedom, allowing the hard interaction of the experimental probe with one parton to be unambiguously separated from the residual soft interaction of the struck parton with the rest of the hadron. In a kinematic regime where hard-soft factorization applies, exclusive measurements of a photon or meson originating from the struck parton can be used to create a tomographic image of the nucleon. This project plays an important role in these studies, specifically through the PI's exclusive photon and meson production experiments at Jefferson Lab, which will be essential for a reliable interpretation of the results from the GPD program at both 6 GeV and 12 GeV.
Young scientists, graduate students, and undergraduate students play an integral part in this project, which provides them with opportunities to further their training and education. These will include the opportunity to gain experience in the design, assembly, and testing of modern instrumentation for the detection of radiation and subatomic particles, fast signal processing electronics, and scientific data analysis. Furthermore, learning to work in a large international scientific community will prepare young scientists and students for the modern work environment at academic institutions, national laboratories, and industry. The PI's research projects have contributed significantly to the education of graduate and undergraduate, and, over the past three years, ten high school students. She has considerable experience working with minority students, and by providing a female role model, she could encourage women to pursue advanced studies in physics.
