Experimental studies of few-body systems at MAMI

Abstract

Few-body experiments at the Mainz Microtron were focused on a number of selected topics. Double-polarization experiments to determine the neutron electric form factor Gen have been performed using both deuterium and polarized helium-3 targets. The structure of 3He has been studied in the reactions 3H e e(ee,e′n) and 3H e e(ee,e′p) with large (transversal) missing momenta and in quasi-elastic electron scattering. Electromagnetically induced two-nucleon knockout has been investigated in order to study the role of correlated nucleon-nucleon motion in the nucleus. Measurements of the (e,e′pn) reaction on 3He and 16O were performed for the first time. A triple-polarization experiment of type 3H e e(ee,e′ep)d has been performed, where, in addition, the spin of the knocked out proton is analyzed. This measurement provides information on the spin-dependent momentum distribution of proton-deuteron clusters in the 3He nucleus. Hence, by tagging the outgoing deuteron spin-polarized 3He might also serve as an effective polarized proton target for electron scattering experiments. Moreover, in inclusive 3,4He(e,e′) measurements at low momentum transfer, the effect of 3-body-forces has been studied.