DISSERTATION DEFENSE
"EXCLUSIVE DEEPLY VIRTUAL COMPTON SCATTERING AND NEUTRAL PION ELECTROPRODUCTION CROSS SECTION MEASUREMENTS WITH A NEUTRAL PARTICLE SPECTROMETER"
Mitchell R. Kerver
Old Dominion University
OCNPS 304 Physics Conference Room
April 15, 2026
11:00 am – 1:00 pm
Abstract:
Deep Virtual Compton Scattering (DVCS), the exclusive electron-proton scattering process e p ➔ e' p' y, provides access to generalized parton distributions (GPDs ), which correlate information about the longitudinal momentum and transverse spatial structure of quarks inside the nucleon. Experiment El2-13-010 in Hall Cat Jefferson Lab was designed to take high-precision measurements of the DVCS cross section over an extended kinematic range using the newly commissioned Neutral Particle Spectrometer (NPS). The NPS features a high-resolution electromagnetic calorimeter and a streaming data acquisition system optimized for operation at high luminosities. This thesis presents the detector and analysis work carried out to support the NPS DVCS program. In particular, it focuses on the hardware design, calibration, and performance of the calorimeter. A development of a waveform reconstruction analysis of the calorimeter signals enabled improved extraction of pulse amplitudes and times. The waveform analysis was also extended to operate in a multithreaded environment, substantially reducing processing time for large datasets. Analysis of exclusive neutral pion electroproduction events in the calorimeter gives a strong validation of the calorimeter's performance and resolution. Together these developments establish a foundation for future analyses and extraction of the DVCS cross section and its use in constraining the GPDs.