R. A. Schumacher

Reinhard A. Schumacher

Professor of Physics
Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1983)
B.S., Case Western Reserve University (1978)

Email: schumacher@cmu.edu
Office: Wean Hall, Room 8406
Phone: 1-412-268-5177
FAX: 1-412-681-0648

Department of Physics
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890

Medium energy physics explores the interactions of sub-atomic particle systems at the boundary between the quark-gluon and meson-baryon descriptions of matter. The field addresses questions that, as a practical matter, do not require the highest beam energies or luminosities, but do call for high-precision measurements using specialized equipment. At Carnegie Mellon we have a large research group doing Medium Energy Physics.

Currently, my main area of work is in the electromagnetic production of strange particles (kaons and hyperons). The production of strange-quark pairs via the well-known electromagnetic interaction gives us an avenue for refining our knowledge of baryon resonances, coupling constants, and polarization observables; the results are compared with modern quark model calculations. This work is being done at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. More exactly, my work is done using the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) in Hall B at Jefferson Lab.

At Carnegie Mellon I teach a number of different courses, and this comprises a very important part of my work. Presently I am teaching Physics for Engineering Students II (33.107) (Electricity and Magnetism) in the fall and Modern Physics Laboratory (33.340) in the spring.

Selected Publications

R. Schumacher, "Polarization in Hyperon Photo- and Electro-prodroduction." European Physical Journal A 35, 299 (2008).

R. Bradford, R. A. Schumacher, et al., "First Measurement of Beam-Recoil Observables Cx and Cz in Hyperon Photoproduction." (The CLAS Collaboration) Physical Review C 75, 035205 (2007).

R. Bradford, R. A. Schumacher, J.W.C. McNabb, L. Todor et al., "Differential Cross Sections for gamma + p --> K+ Y for Lambda and Sigma_0 Hyperons." (The CLAS Collaboration) Physical Review C 73, 035202 (2006).

R. A. Schumacher "The Rise and Fall of Pentaquarks in Experiments." Proceedings of PANIC 2005; arXiv:nucl-ex/0512019.

J.W.C. McNabb, R. A. Schumacher, L. Todor et al., "Hyperon Photoproduction in the Nucleon Resonance Region." (The CLAS Collaboration) Physical Review C 69, 042201 (2004).

Reinhard A. Schumacher, "Strangeness Production and Other Recent Results from Hall B at Jefferson Lab." European Physical Journal A 18, 371-375 (2003).

B. Mecking et al., "The CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS)." Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research (NIM) A 503, 513 (2003).

Schumacher, R.A., "Photoproduction Evidence For and Against Hidden-Strangeness States Near 2 GeV", Physical Review C 56, 2774 (1997).

Roth, S.A. and R.A. Schumacher, "A Computer-Controlled Tension Monitoring System For Drift Chamber Wires", Nuclear Instruments and Methods, A 369, 215 (1996).

Reinhard A. Schumacher, "Special Relativity and the Michelson-Morley Interferometer." American Journal of Physics 62: 609 (1994).

Last modified: 2-29-08