a Measurement of the Interference Structure Function, R(lt) for the CARBON-12(ELECTRON, Electron' Proton) Reaction in the Quasielastic Region.

The coincidence cross-section and the interference structure function, R_{rm LT }, were measured for quasielastic electron scattering from the ^{12}C nucleus at an energy transfer, omega, of 110 MeV and a momentum transfer, q, of 404 MeV/c. The experiment was performed in the North Hall of the Bates Linear Accelerator Center in March 1991, using the prototype OOPS spectrometer to detect protons and the ELSSY spectrometer to detect electrons. The beam energy was 576 MeV, the electron scattering angle was 44^circ , and the proton scattering angles were 42.9 ^circ and 64.7^circ . The central outgoing electron momentum was 464 MeV/c, and the proton momentum varied over the range of 310 to 480 MeV/c to cover a range in missing energy from E_{m} = 0 to 65 MeV. The proton angle with respect to the q vector was about 11 ^circ. This thesis describes the details of the experimental setup, including the two spectrometers and their detector packages, and the data acquisition electronics and software. New measurements for the optical properties of both spectrometers are presented, and the normalizations and efficiency corrections are discussed. The analysis of the data was performed using a two dimensional method that sorts the data in (rm E_{m}, P_ {m}) bins. This data was radiatively corrected in this two dimensional plane before being projected onto the missing energy axis. In the both the measured cross-sections and the R_{rm LT} structure function, a peak can be identified at a missing energy of 18 MeV, which is associated with proton knockout from the p-shell. A broader peak is seen at missing energies between 28 and 50 MeV corresponding to s-shell knockout. The R_{rm LT} structure function is consistent with zero for missing energies above 50 MeV. The integrated strengths of the peaks are compared with a factorized Distorted Wave Impulse Approximation, and an HF-RPA calculation with a spectroscopic function to model the s-shell energy dependence. The DWIA calculation agrees with the extracted R_{LT} value, but over estimates the cross-sections for the p and s-shell. The HF-RPA calculation describes the s-shell shape, but over estimates the strength by a factor of 3. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, Rm. 14-0551, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Ph. 617-253-5668; Fax 617-253-1690.).