Electron-deuteron scattering with a polarized deuterium gas target in the VEPP-3 electron storage ring

The collaborative effort between Argonne and the Budker Institute for Nuclear Physics in Novosibirsk to measure the tensor analyzing power of the deuteron at high momentum transfer continues. This measurement allows the experimental separation of the deuteron charge and quadrupole form factors, which cannot be obtained from unpolarized scattering alone. Phase 2 of the experiment, which used a storage cell fed by an atomic beam source as the internal target, was completed. The limited statistics collected in this phase of the experiment are insufficient to confirm the existing data from MIT-Bates in the kinematic region up to q = 5 fm-1. It was decided to change to Phase 3 of the experiment, which uses a laser-driven polarized deuterium source and a passive storage cell as the target. All necessary parts of the Argonne source were delivered to Novosibirsk and work is underway to construct and test the target