The BGO-OD experiment at the ELSA accelerator facility uses an energy tagged bremstrahlung photon beam to investigate the excitation structure of the nucleon. The setup consists of a highly segmented BGO calorimeter surrounding the target, with a particle tracking magnetic spectrometer at forward angles. BGO-OD is ideal for investigating low momentum transfer processes due to the acceptance and high momentum resolution at forward angles. In particular, this enables the investigation of strangeness photoproduction where t-channel exchange mechanisms play an important role. This also allows access to a kinematic region where extended, molecular structure may manifest in reaction mechanisms. The extensive strangeness photoproduction programme includes the photoproduction of neutral and charged kaons using both hydrogen and deuterium targets.

The BGO Rugby Ball is a large solid angle electromagnetic calorimeter now installed in the ELSA Facility in Bonn. The BGO is operating in the BGO-OD experiment aiming to study meson photoproduction off proton and neutron induced by a Bremsstrahlung polarized gamma beam of energies from 0.2 to 3.2 GeV and an intensity of 5 x 10(7) photons per second. The scintillating material characteristics and the photomultiplier read-out make this detector particularly suited for the detection of medium energy photons and electrons with very good energy resolution. The detector has been equipped with a new electronics read-out system, consisting of 30 sampling ADC Wie-Ne-R modules which perform the off-line reconstruction of the signal start-time allowing for a good timing resolution. Performances in linearity, resolution and time response have been carefully tested at the Beam Test Facility of the INFN National Laboratories in Frascati by using a matrix of 7 BGO crystals coupled to photomultipliers and equipped with the Wie-Ne-R sampling ADCs.

Following recent puzzling astrophysical results and recent theoretical studies, a search for a relatively low mass (1 GeV ) new vector gauge boson (called the U boson) was performed by means of the KLOE detector. Investigations were carried out using the Initial State Radiation and searching for the signal from the U boson in the e ++e -rarrmu +mu -gamma process. The KLOE experiment, at the phi-factory DAPhiNE (INFN-LNF), is the first to have exploited ISR to precisely determine cross sections of e ++e -rarrpi +pi - gamma(gamma) and e ++e -rarrmu +mu -gamma(gamma) processes below 1 GeV . Investigations were based on the data sample collected in 2002, which corresponds to integrated luminosity of 239.29 pb -1 . No evidence was found and a preliminary upper limit in the mass range between 600 and 1000 MeV was extracted.

Compton backscattering gamma ray beams are characterized by a high degree of linear and circular polarization with low unpolarized backgrounds and have proven to provide very precise measurements of polarization observables. Latest results from LEGS and GRAAL experiments on proton and deuteron targets are presented. The Sigma beam asymmetry for omega photoproduction has been measured by the GRAAL collaboration for both the omega -> pi(0)gamma and the omega -> pi(+)pi(+)pi(0) decay channels on the proton target; single and double polarization asymmetries have been provided also for the K photoproduction channel. E and G double polarization asymmetries for single pion photoproduction on the proton and deuteron have been measured at LEGS using a frozen spin HD target.

We have carried out a new direct search for the CP violating decay K-S -> 3 pi(0) with 1.7 fb(-1) of e(+)e(-) collisions collected by the KLOE detector at the Phi-factory DA Phi NE. We have searched for this decay in a sample of about 5.9 x 10(8) KSKL events tagging the K-S by means of the K-L interaction in the calorimeter and requiring six prompt photons. With respect to our previous search, the analysis has been improved by increasing of a factor four the tagged sample and by a more effective background rejection of fake K-S tags and spurious clusters. We find no candidates in data and simulated background samples, while we expect 0.12 standard model events. Normalizing to the number of K-S -> 2 pi(0) events in the same sample, we set the upper limit on BR(K-S -> 3 pi(0)) <= 2.6 x 10(-8) at 90% C.L., five times lower than the previous limit. We also set the upper limit on the eta(000) parameter, vertical bar eta(000)vertical bar <= 0.0088 at 90% C.L., improving by a factor two the latest direct measurement. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The extraction of resonance parameters from meson photo-reaction data is a challenging effort, that would greatly benefit from the availability of several polarization observables, measured for each reaction channel on both proton and neutron targets. In the aim of obtaining such complete experiments, polarized photon beams and targets have been developed at facilities, worldwide. We report on the latest results from the LEGS and GRAAL collaborations, providing single and double polarization measurements on pseudo-scalar meson photo-production from the nucleon.

Experimental results on proton and charged pion detection obtained from a study of the +np+- reaction are reported in detail. Data have been collected using the tagged and linearly polarized photon beam, impinging on a deuterium target, and the large solid angle apparatus of the GRAAL facility in Grenoble (France). The energy of the charged particles was measured using a BGO calorimeter. A comparison of the experimental data with a GEANT3-based simulation is also presented.

A measurement of the vector to pseudoscalar conversion decay phi -> pi(0)e(+)e(-) with the KLOE experiment is presented. A sample of similar to 9500 signal events was selected from a data set of 1.7 fb(-1) of e(+)e(-) collisions at root s similar to m(phi) collected at the DA Phi NE e(+)e(-) collider. These events were used to perform the first measurement of the transition form factor vertical bar F(phi pi)0(q(2))vertical bar and a new measurement of the branching ratio of the decay: BR (phi -> pi(0)e(+)e(-)) =3D (1.35 +/- 0.05(-0.10)(+0.05)) x 10(-5). The result improves significantly on previous measurements and is in agreement with theoretical predictions. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Funded by SCOAP(3).

The study of meson photoproduction on the nucleon is a very important tool to complete the puzzle of baryon excited states. GRAAL aim is the measurement of cross sections and of beam asymmetries for all the photonuclear reactions accessible in the energy range from 600 MeV up to 1.5 GeV. In the following preliminary results of the Sigma beam asymmetry for omega photoproduction on the free proton in Hydrogen and on the quasi-free nucleon in Deuterium are shown. GRAAL is the first experiment in which both the charged and the radiative decay of omega meson are studied. Since the beam asymmetry is independent of the decay mode, the comparison of the results from the two channel allows an important check on data consistency. Results on the free proton are in good agreement with theoretical prediction from Zhao model and confirm the presence of P(13)(1720) state. The analysis performed for the radiative decay is applied to the process of. photoproduction on the quasi free nucleon in Deuterium.

This paper describes the Monte Carlo simulation developed specifically for the Virtual Compton Scattering (VCS) experiments below pion threshold that have been performed at MAMI and JLab. This simulation generates events according to the (Bethe-Heitler + Born) cross-section behaviour and takes into account all relevant resolution-deteriorating effects. It determines the "effective" solid angle for the various experimental settings which are used for the precise determination of the photon electroproduction absolute cross-section. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

We have measured the running of the effective QED coupling constant alpha(s) in the time-like region 0.6 < root s < 0.975 GeV with the KLOE detector at DA Phi NE using the Initial-State Radiation process e(+) e(-) -> mu(+) mu(-)gamma. It represents the first measurement of the running of alpha(s) in this energy region. Our results show a more than 5 sigma significance of the hadronic contribution to the running of alpha(s), which is the strongest direct evidence both in time- and space-like regions achieved in a single measurement. By using the e(+) e(-) -> pi(+) pi(-) cross section measured by KLOE, the real and imaginary parts of the shift Delta alpha(s) have been extracted. From a fit of the real part of Delta alpha(s) and assuming the lepton universality the branching ratio BR(omega -> mu(+) mu(-)) =3D (6.6 +/- 1.4(stat) +/- 1.7(syst)) (.) 10 (5)has been determined. (C) 2016 The Author. Published by Elsevier B.V.

The static polarization of HD samples has been achieved using "brute force", for HD samples purified by double distillation. Proton polarization in excess of 60% and deuteron vector polarization higher than 14% have been reached. It has been demonstrated that the ageing technique allows to get relaxation times at 1.5 K and 1 T larger than a week. It is advocated that the conventional dynamic polarization of HD should be feasible for the proton and the deuteron contained in the HD molecule. This would simplify considerably the machinery presently necessary to perform nuclear physics experiments with HD targets polarized by the static method

Virtual Compton scattering is a powerful tool to probe the internal structure of the proton. A VCS experiment (E93050) was performed in Hall A at JLAB below and above the pion threshold. In the resonance region, cross sections of pion and photon electroproduction have been produced; below the pion threshold, evidence of the effect of the polarisabilities on the cross sections has been proved

We present the analysis of data performed in order to identify the events of the gamma + n -> pi(-) + p reaction obtained by bombarding a liquid Deuterium target with a polarised. beam of 0.55-1.5 GeV at the Graal-experiment. We show the effect of different kinematic and hardware constraints used to reduce the contamination coming from the concurrent reaction channels. By the simulation we estimate the contamination degree due to the other reaction channels so we can test the reliability of our method. We describe a new three-dimensional cut based on the Fermi momentum reconstruction and its effect on the suppression of the concurrent double charged pion photoproduction. We present the preliminary beam asymmetry Sigma of the pi(-) fotoproduction off quasi-free neutron up to about theta(c.m.), (pi-) = 165 degrees together with some theoretical multipolar analysis. For a comparison we also report the data present in literature on the same reaction for E(gamma) -850-1740 MeV and theta(c.m.), (pi-) <= 105 degrees.

We present a new limit on the production of a light dark-force mediator with the KLOE detector at DA Phi NE. This boson, called U, has been searched for in the decay phi -> eta U, U -> e(+)e(-), analyzing the. decay eta -> pi(0)pi(0)pi(0) in a data sample of 1.7 fb(-1). No structures are observed in the e(+)e(-) invariant mass distribution over the background. This search is combined with a previous result obtained from the decay eta -> pi(+)pi(-)pi(0), increasing the sensitivity. We set an upper limit at 90% C.L. on the ratio between the U boson coupling constant and the fine structure constant of alpha'/alpha < 1.7 x 10(-5) for 30 < M-U < 400 MeV and alpha'/alpha <= 8 x 10(-6) for the sub-region 50 < M-U <210 MeV. This result assumes the Vector Meson Dominance expectations for the phi eta gamma* transition form factor. The dependence of this limit on the transition form factor has also been studied. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.