Scientific and educational programs. Annual report, 1980-1982

It is possible to construct models in which all of the known baryons and mesons are bound states of five quarks and their antiparticles. Yet, despite intensive searches, present evidence is that these constituents are rarely, if ever, to be found freely in nature. Research in the physics laboratory is principally directed toward experiments which can provide new data relevant to a clearer understanding of this fundamental puzzle. Evidence from this laboratory and from others strongly supports a new theory of the forces which bind the quarks to form the observed hadrons and mesons; the theory is usually called Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). The quantum of this force is called the gluon. This theory now forms the conceptual framework which we are testing by experiment. The experiments which are carried out make use of appropriate high energy accelerator facilities in the United States and in Europe. The design, construction and testing of detection apparatus, as well as the analysis of the data, are carried out in the University laboratory. Close liaison with the high energy theoretical laboratory is maintained through seminars and personal consultation. These research programs are reported