New Measurements of the Transverse Beam Asymmetry for Elastic Electron Scattering from Selected Nuclei

• Main Authors: Beck, A. (Contributor), Deconinck, Wouter (Contributor), Huang, J. (Contributor), Kelleher, Aidan Michael (Contributor), Kowalski, Stanley B. (Contributor), Muangma, Navaphon (Contributor), Puckett, A. J. R. (Contributor), Qiang, Y. (Contributor), Sulkosky, Vincent (Contributor), Ziskin, Vitaliy (Contributor)
• Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Laboratory for Nuclear Science (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Physical Society, 2012-12-18T19:27:07Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

 We have measured the beam-normal single-spin asymmetry A[subscript n] in the elastic scattering of 1-3 GeV transversely polarized electrons from [superscript 1]H and for the first time from [superscript 4]He, [superscript 12]C, and [superscript 208]Pb. For [superscript 1]H, [superscript 4]He, and [superscript 12]C, the measurements are in agreement with calculations that relate An to the imaginary part of the two-photon exchange amplitude including inelastic intermediate states. Surprisingly, the [superscript 208]Pb result is significantly smaller than the corresponding prediction using the same formalism. These results suggest that a systematic set of new A[subscript n] measurements might emerge as a new and sensitive probe of the structure of heavy nuclei.