Understanding the Physics and Practical Motivations and Feasibility for the Study of J/Ψ Meson Photoproduction Near Threshold from a Transversely Polarized Target at JLab

Current work is being expanded upon via simulation to understand the feasibility of a study of the J/Ψ meson near its production threshold when produced from a reaction with a transversely polarized target. The study of the J/Ψ is of general interest due to being the lightest of the heavy mesons, as a charmonium, and giving access to the extraction of gluon Generalized Parton Distributions (GPDs) for use in testing the universality and building a three-dimensional model of the nucleon. Study specifically in the threshold region allows for more interesting access into the area of "penta-quark" bound states while also accessing a region of wavering production mechanism dominance that can give insight into the very formation of charm quarks and the other heavy hadrons. Transversely polarizing the target gives the ability for the most interesting research due to giving space for an asymmetry to arise and be observed between the co-dominant production schemes so that an adequate map of the relationship between the two can be built. Photoproduction is specifically investigated due the practical effect that it has on the experiment by allowing access to more J/Ψ meson viably detected. This work and modelling is done through the development of Dr. Marie Boёr's event generator, DEEPSim, that can simulate isolated reactions with varying degrees of realism. Production of the J/Ψ meson has been successfully implemented, with a need to further develop some project specifics with more input from theory. This work is intended to serve as the basis for a dedicated experiment proposal at Jefferson Lab in the coming years upon refinement of the work.