Authors

J. R. Pybus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
L. Ehinger, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
T. Kolar, Tel Aviv University
B. Devkota, Mississippi State University
P. Sharp, The George Washington University
B. Yu, Duke University
M. M. Dalton, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
D. Dutta, Mississippi State University
H. Gao, Duke University
O. Hen, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
E. Piasetzky, Tel Aviv University
S. N. Santiesteban, University of New Hampshire
A. Schmidt, The George Washington University
A. Somov, Duke University
H. Szumila-Vance, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
S. Adhikari, Old Dominion University
A. Asaturyan, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
A. Austregesilo, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
C. Ayerbe Gayoso, Mississippi State University
J. Barlow, Florida State University
V. V. Berdnikov, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
H. D. Bhatt, Mississippi State University
D. Bhetuwal, Mississippi State University
T. Black, University of North Carolina Wilmington
W. J. Briscoe, The George Washington University
G. Chung, Virginia Tech
P. L. Cole, Lamar University
A. Deur, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
R. Dotel, Florida International University
H. Egiyan, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
P. Eugenio, Florida State University
C. Fanelli, College of William and Mary
L. Gan, University of North Carolina Wilmington
A. Gasparian, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University
J. Guo, Carnegie Mellon University
K. Hernandez, Arizona State University
D. W. Higinbotham, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
P. Hurck, University of Glasgow
I. Jaegle, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
R. T. Jones, University of Connecticut
V. Kakoyan, A. I. Alikhanyan National Science Laboratory (Yerevan Physics Institute)
A. Karki, Mississippi State University
H. Li, College of William and Mary
W. B. Li, Stony Brook University
G. R. Linera, Florida State University
V. Lyubovitskij, Tomsk State University
H. Marukyan, A. I. Alikhanyan National Science Laboratory (Yerevan Physics Institute)
M. D. McCaughan, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
M. McCracken, Washington and Jefferson College
K. Mizutani, Osaka University
D. Nguyen, The University of Tennessee
S. Oresic, University of Regina
A. I. Ostrovidov, Florida State University
Z. Papandreou, University of Regina
C. Paudel, Florida International University
K. Peters, GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research
J. Ritman, GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research
A. Schick, University of Massachusetts Amherst
J. Schwiening, GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research
A. Smith, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
S. Somov, National Research Nuclear Facility
I. Strakovsky, The George Washington University
K. Suresh, University of Regina
V. V. Tarasov, National Research Centre Kurchatov Institute
S. Taylor, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
T. Xiao, University of North Texas
Z. Zhang, Wuhan University
X. Zhou, Wuhan University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2025

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.201903

Publication Title

Physical Review Letters

Volume

134

Issue

20

Pages

201903 (1-8)

Abstract

We report on the first measurement of J/ψ photoproduction from nuclei in the photon energy range of 7 to 10.8 GeV, extending above and below the photoproduction threshold in the free proton of ∼8.2 GeV. The experiment used a tagged photon beam incident on deuterium, helium, and carbon, and the GlueX detector at Jefferson Lab to measure the semi-inclusive A(γ,e+e-p) reaction with a dilepton invariant mass M(e+e-)∼mJ/ψ=3.1 GeV. The incoherent J/ψ photoproduction cross sections in the measured nuclei are extracted as a function of the incident photon energy, momentum transfer, and proton-reconstructed missing light-cone momentum fraction. Comparisons with theoretical predictions assuming a dipole form factor allow for extracting a gluonic radius for bound protons of «r2» = 0.85±0.14 fm. The data also suggest an excess of the measured cross section for subthreshold production and for interactions with high missing light-cone momentum fraction protons. The measured enhancement can be explained by modified gluon structure for high-virtuality bound protons.

Rights

© 2025 American Physical Society. All rights reserved.

Yes, the author or the author's employer may use all or part of the APS published article, including the APS-prepared version (e.g., the PDF from the online journal) without revision or modification, on the author's or employer's website as long as a fee is not charged. If a fee is charged, then APS permission must be sought. In all cases, the appropriate bibliographic citation and notice of the APS copyright must be included.

Original Publication Citation

Pybus, J. R., Ehinger, L., Kolar, T., Devkota, B., Sharp, P., Yu, B., Dalton, M. M., Dutta, D., Gao, H., Hen, O., Piasetzky, E., Santiesteban, S. N., Schmidt, A., Somov, A., Szumila-Vance, H., Adhikari, S., Asaturyan, A., Austregesilo, A., Ayerbe Gayoso, C.,…Zhou, X. (2025). First measurement of near-threshold and subthreshold J/ψ photoproduction off nuclei. Physical Review Letters, 134(20), 1-8, Article 201903. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.201903

ORCID

0000-0001-9288-8008 (Adhikari)

SRC_CT_JPsi_Supplementary.pdf (9226 kB)
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