Seminars & Colloquia

Hadron Physics with Polarized Photons at 9 GeV

Richard Jones, University of Connecticut

The GlueX experiment seeks to answer the long-standing question of whether explicit inclusion of gluonic degrees of freedom is necessary in order to explain the mass spectrum of hadrons. QCD-inspired models and LQCD calculations with quenched lattices both suggest the existence of mesonic states bearing the distinguishing marks of gluonic excitations (exotics). Recent results with unquenched lattices seem to indicate that essential results from these earlier calculations are quite robust, and that strong mixing with continuum states seems not to occur. Experimental searches have produced a few interesting candidates for exotic resonances in the region below 2 GeV. The GlueX experiment will search for exotic resonances in meson photoproduction using a linearly polarized photon beam at 9 GeV. The experimental method will be presented, with an emphasis on the source and instrumentation related to the polarized photon beam. The requirements for the partial-wave analysis of multi-meson final states will be described.