3He Two-Body Photodisintegration (2013)

Undergraduate: Joseph Heideman

Faculty Advisor: Hugon Karwoski
Department: Physics & Astronomy

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Using a circularly polarized 30 MeV gamma ray beam at the High Intensity Gamma Source Facility at the Triangle University Nuclear Laboratory, the two-body photodisintegration of longitudinally polarized 3He will studied by measuring the spin-dependent asymmetry along with the differential and total cross sections. A highly pressurized 3He target will be used that is polarized via spin exchange optical pumping with alkali metals. The emitted protons from the photodisintegration will be detected using 72 silicon surface barrier detectors positioned in the reaction plane at 4 different angles between 45 and 120 degrees. The asymmetry and cross-section measurements will be used to test state-of-the-art three-body calculations and serve a more important goal of working towards determining the contribution of the two body threshold to the GDH integrand pion production threshold.