Experimental search for color transparency at Jefferson Lab

Abstract

Mapping the transition of the strong interaction from the hadronic degrees of freedom to the partonic degrees of freedom of quantum chromodynamics (QCD), is an important goal in intermediate energy nuclear and particle physics. One of the popular approaches used to study the transition between these two regions involves searching for the onset of various phenomena which are naturally predicted in QCD. One such phenomena is Color Transparency (CT), which refers to the suppression of final (and initial) state interactions of hadrons with the nuclear medium in exclusive processes at high momentum transfers. At Jefferson Lab the search for CT has focused on the (e,e’p) reaction. I will review the status of the experimental search for CT covering these experiments and others spanning over a decade. Some of the future experiments being planned for the 12 GeV upgrade of JLab will also be discussed.