This award will support cooperative research between Dr. Gary Blanpied and colleagues at the Department of Physics, University of Carolina and Dr. Jean-Pierre Didelez, Institute of Nuclear Physics, University of Paris-Sud, Orsay, France. The research will focus on the study of pi and eta meson production ny nucleons and high energy gamma rays. Electromagnetic probes are becoming increasingly important in intermediate energy nuclear physics. The two groups have col- laborated in the design and construction of the lead-glass based high energy detector used in the detection of neutral pi mesons. The investigators propose to complete this program and to expand and reconfigure the spectrometer for detection of eta mesons. The experience and expertise developed with this detector will have application in the US at CEBAF, the US flagship electromagnetic nuclear physics facility, in a program of photo- and electro-meson production studies. The project will benefit from the complementary expertise of the two groups: the US group will have primary responsibility for the electronics and the data acquisition systems, while the French will be responsible for the engineering, fabrication, and assembly of the detector and for the design of the trigger logic.
