Michael Kovash

Intermediate Energy Nuclear Physics (Exp.)
Office: CP-371 Phone: (859) 257-1150
Laboratory: CP-265 Phone: (859) 257-5565

Email address for Professor Kovash

Director of Undergraduate Studies

Research Interests

Electromagnetic studies of the nucleon, two-nucleon system, and nuclei of special astrophysical interest are the focus of this experimental research program. Experiments are conducted at a number of nearby and international accelerator labs including TRIUMF (Vancouver), KEK (Japan), and most recently at the Jefferson Lab (Virginia). The structure of the nucleon is studied by measuring the production of virtual photons following the interaction of an incident beam of pions or photons. In the former case we determine the nucleon's axial vector structure, while the interaction of real photons provides information on the quadrupole deformation of the proton. The neutron-neutron scattering length is determined by studying radiative capture of pions on the deuteron and measuring a high resolution spectrum of emitted gamma rays. Similarly, the production of gamma rays through the process of helium burning in stars is explored with low energy radiative capture measurements. We have developed the world's largest single-crystal NaI spectrometer for detecting gamma rays.

Education

B.Sc., Physics, Ohio State University (1973)

Ph.D., Experimental Nuclear Physics, Ohio State University (1978)

Selected Recent Publications

M.A. Kovash, J.H. Trice, J.L. Weil, and T.R. Donoghue, "Low Energy Dipole and Quadrupole Extrapolations of the ¹²C(⁴He,gamma)¹⁶O Cross Section", submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett.

H. Noumi, S. Sawada, T. Hasegawa, N. Horikawa, M. Ieiri, M. Ishii, S. Ishimoto, T. Iwata, Y. Katoh, M. Kawabata, Y.D. Kim, M.A. Kovash, M. Minakawa, Y. Mizuno, F. Nakayama, H. Ogami, A. Ogawa, T. Sasaki, T.-A. Shibata, Y. Suzuki, M. Takasaki, K. Tamura, J. Trice, and Y. Yamanoi, "Neutron Beam Line at the KEK 12-GeV PS", Nucl. Inst. and Meth. A382, 519 (1997).

S. Sawada, T. Hasegawa, N. Horikawa, S. Ishimoto, T. Iwata, M. Kawabata, Y.D. Kim, M.A. Kovash, Y. Mizuno, F. Nakayama, H. Ogami, A. Ogawa, T. Sasaki, T.-A. Shibata, K. Tamura and J. Trice, "Differential Cross Sections for np --> dX at 1.0 and 2.0 GeV", Nucl. Phys. A615, 277 (1997).

T. Sasaki, T. Hasegawa, S. Hirata, N. Horikawa, S. Ishimoto, T. Iwata, M. Kawabata, Y.D. Kim, M.A. Kovash, Y. Miyachi, Y. Mizuno, F. Nakayama, H. Ogami, A. Ogawa, S. Sawada, T.-A. Shibata, K. Tamura and J. Trice, "A Profile and Flux Monitor for the Few GeV Neutron Beam at KEK", Nucl. Inst. and Meth. 364 (1), 171 (1995).

J.C. Stasko, B. Bassalleck, E.C. Booth, M.B. Chertok, D. Healey, R. Jacot-Guillarmod, M.A. Kovash, D.J. Mack, D.F. Measday, J.P.Miller, M.A. Moinester, D. Ottewell, M.A. Pickar and P. Weber, "Radiative Decay of the Delta Resonance: Analyzing Powers for pi^- p --> gamma n", Phys. Rev. Lett. 72, 973 (1994).

Last updated on October 27, 1999

Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Kentucky