Exploration of Gluon Dynamics in the Proton through Exclusive Photoproduction of the Phi Meson with CLAS12

Full description

Protons and neutrons are composed of partons (quarks and gluons) that interact via the strong force, governed by Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). While QCD is calculable at high energy, its complexity emerges at low energy, requiring experimental contributions to understand nucleon properties such as mass and spin. The experimental extraction of Generalized Parton Distributions (GPDs), which describe the longitudinal momenta and transverse positions of partons within nucleons, provides crucial insights into these fundamental properties.

This internship focuses on analyzing data from the CLAS12 detector, an experiment within the research infrastructure of Jefferson Lab, one of the 17 national laboratories in the United States. CLAS12, a 15-meter-long fixed-target detector with large acceptance, is dedicated to hadronic physics, particularly the extraction of GPDs. The selected student will study the exclusive photoproduction of the phi meson (gamma p → phi p’), which is sensitive to the gluon GPDs that remain largely unexplored. The student will develop a framework to analyze this reaction in the leptonic decay channel (phi → e+e−) and design an innovative algorithm based on Graph Neural Networks to improve the detection efficiency of scattered protons.

Location

Saclay

Internship conditions

• Internship duration: 5 months
• Level of study: Bac+5
• Training: Master 2
• Continuation in PhD thesis: Yes
• Application deadline: 3 mars 2025

Useful methods and technics:
Data analysis and machine learning

Computer languages and software:
C++/ROOT, Python

Supervisor

BOSSU Francesco
Phone: +33 1 69 08 86 23
Email :

Head of the laboratory DPhN / LSN

Phone: