Physics Division
The Fermilab E-906/SeaQuest experiment is part of a
series of
fixed target Drell-Yan
experiments designed to measure the quark and antiquark structure of
the nucleon and the modifications to that structure which occur when
the nucleon is embedded in a nucleus. With these measurements, we
are also able to quantify the energy loss of a colored parton (quark)
travelling through cold, strongly-interacting matter.
The first of these expeirments, E-866/NuSea took
place
at Fermilab. The primary
focus
of this experiment was to measured the asymmetry of down and
up antiquarks in the nucleon sea using Drell-Yan di-muons produced in
800 GeV proton interactions with hydrogen and deuterium targets. It has
also made measurements of the suppression of the production of J/Psi's
in nuclei over a broad range in xF and pT as well
as angular
distributions for Drell-Yan, J/Psi and Upsilon production.
To extend these measurements to larger Bjorken-x, E-906/SeaQuest
has been approved by Fermilab. It will use a 120 GeV proton beam
extracted from the Fermilab Main Injector. In addition to
extending the down to up antiquark measurements, the experiment will
also examine the modifications to the antiquark structure of the proton
from nuclear binding. This experiment currently being assembeled
at Fermilab. It is expected to be comissioned in 2010 and collect
data for two years.