Session J7: Recent Highlights in Hadronic Physics

Highlights on Hadronic Physics from Heavy Ion Physics

The program at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory has been a resounding success, leading to qualitative advances in our understanding of both the properties of the universe in its earliest stages and the spin of the proton. The study of this matter, created in the laboratory through collisions between nuclei at high energies, is entering into a new, quantitative phase with upgrades to both the detectors and the collider, termed RHIC II. Limitations of current measurements will be reviewed, along with the upcoming methods to produce high precision quantification of the properties of the matter produced at RHIC.   

The New Charmonium States

A review of the properties and theoretical interpretations of the newly discovered charmonium states is presented.   

Partial Wave Analysis Results for $\gamma p \rightarrow p \omega$ using Data from CLAS at Jefferson Lab

Relativistic quark models predict strong couplings to $p\omega$ --- relative to $N\pi$ --- for some of the {\em missing} $N^*$ states. Previous searches for these states in $\gamma p \rightarrow p \omega$ have relied solely on differential cross section measurements. I will present final differential cross section and $\omega$ spin density matrix element measurements obtained from the CLAS $g11a$ dataset. Measurements at $\sim 20$ points in each of 112 $\sqrt{s}$ bins over the range 1.72 GeV $< \sqrt{s} <$ 2.84 GeV have been made ($\sim2000$ total points). These are the first {\em high precision} polarization measurements made for $\omega$ photoproduction. I will also present partial wave analysis results for this channel. These results are the first to be constrained by precise polarization information. Strong evidence for resonance contributions to $\gamma p \rightarrow p \omega$ has been found.