Exclusive Compton Scattering on the Proton

An experiment is proposed to measure the cross sections for Real Compton Scattering from the proton in the energy range 3-6 GeV and over a wide angular range; and to measure the longitudinal and transverse components of the polarization transfer to the recoil proton at a single kinematic point. Together; these measurements will test models of the reaction mechanism and determine new structure functions of the proton that are related to the same nonforward parton densities that determine the elastic electron scattering form factors and the parton densities. The experiment utilizes an untagged bremsstrahlung photon beam and the standard Hall A cryogenic targets. The scattered photon is detected in a photon spectrometer; currently under construction. The coincident recoil proton is detected in one of the Hall A magnetic spectrometers and its polarization components are measured in the existing Focal Plane Polarimeter. This proposal extends and supercedes E97-108 which was approved by PAC13.