This three-year grant will support a faculty member, a post- doctoral fellow, a graduate student and several undergraduate students to perform a series of measurements of the spin longitudinal nuclear response in the quasi-free (QF) peak excitation region. A long predicted enhancement of the longitudinal response relative to the transverse response, based on fundamental assumptions, has yet to be observed experimentally. The measurements will be performed using the recently installed Indiana University Neutron Polarimeter Facility (INPOL) at the Indiana University Cyclotron Facility. Excitation of the QF peak region in the light nuclear systems 2H, 3He, and 4He will be measured, and compared with previously obtained data from the heavier systems 12C, 40Ca and 208Pb by the same group. The study of the light systems allows a comparison to exact Faddeev-type calculations, which are not possible with the heavier nuclear systems, which will thus provide insight into the source of the discrepancy. Other experiments using INPOL will provide measurements of low-lying Gamov-Teller Strength in 40Ar, 59Co, and 127I targets; such information is essential to properly calibrate measured neutrino fluxes in proposed solar neutrino measurements. The Ohio University group will also take responsibility for the construction of a neutron time-of flight wall for the BLAST detector at the MIT-Bates facility and participate in measurements of kaon electroproduction by the CLAS collaboration at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility.
