Measurement of the Vector and Tensor Asymmetries at Large Missing Momentum in Quasielastic $(\vec e, e'p)$ Electron Scattering from Deuterium

Abstract

We report the measurement of the beam-vector and tensor asymmetries A V ed and A T d in quasielastic (e, e p) electrodisintegration of the deuteron at the MIT-Bates Linear Accelerator Center up to missing momentum of 500 MeV/c. Data were collected simultaneously over a momentum transfer range 0.1 < Q 2 < 0.5 (GeV/c) 2 with the Bates Large Acceptance Spectrometer Toroid using an internal deuterium gas target, polarized sequentially in both vector and tensor states. The data are compared with calculations. The beam-vector asymmetry A V ed is found to be directly sensitive to the D-wave component of the deuteron and have a zero-crossing at a missing momentum of about 320 MeV/c, as predicted. The tensor asymmetry A T d at large missing momentum is found to be dominated by the influence of the tensor force in the neutron-proton final-state interaction. The new data provide a strong constraint on theoretical models.