First Measurement of Beam-Recoil Observables Cx and Cz in Hyperon Photoproduction

Abstract

Spin transfer from circularly polarized real photons to recoiling hyperons has been measured for the reactions ${\vec{\hat{I}}}^3+p\to K^{+}+\vec{\hat{I}}›$ and ${\vec{\hat{I}}}^3+p\to K^{+}+\vec{\hat{I}}{\pounds }^0$. The data were obtained using the CLAS detector at Jefferson Lab for center-of-mass energies $W$ between 1.6 and 2.53 GeV, and for $-0.85<\cos \hat{I}{¸}_{K^{+}}^{c.m.}<+0.95$. For the $\hat{I}›$, the polarization transfer coefficient along the photon momentum axis, $C_z$, was found to be near unity for a wide range of energy and kaon production angles. The associated transverse polarization coefficient, $C_x$, is smaller than $C_z$ by a roughly constant difference of unity. Most significantly, the {\it total} $\hat{I}›$ polarization vector, including the induced polarization $P$, has magnitude consistent with unity at all measured energies and production angles when the beam is fully polarized. For the $\hat{I}{\pounds }^0$ this simple phenomenology does not hold. All existing hadrodynamic models are in poor agreement with these results.

28 pages, 18 figures, Submitted to Physical Review C