Speaker
Description
The CLAS12 spectrometer in Hall B at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility is designed to perform experiments with polarized and unpolarized targets using electron beams ranging from 2 to 11 GeV, with operating luminosities up to 10$^{35}$cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$. The CLAS12 physics program spans a broad range of nuclear physics topics, with a central focus on the three-dimensional imaging of the quark structure of nucleons and nuclei.
To meet the growing demand for multidimensional and high-statistics measurements, an upgrade program toward higher luminosities is underway. The near-term goal is to reach 2 × 10$^{35}$ cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$, while future developments aim at luminosities beyond 10$^{37}$ cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$. The latter will enable a new class of exclusive measurements, including the first-ever measurement of Double Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering (DDVCS), establishing a pioneering role for the upgraded muCLAS12 experiment in this emerging domain.
In addition, the large acceptance and high luminosity of the proposed experiment will enable precision measurements of near-threshold J/ψ production and high-statistics studies of Timelike Compton Scattering asymmetries.
Finally, the J/ψ production data will be used to search for and study hidden-charm pentaquark states previously observed by the LHCb collaboration, where large statistics is imperative.
In this contribution, we present the current performance of CLAS12, the planned upgrades toward higher luminosity, and the new physics opportunities enabled by these developments.