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The CLAS12 deep-inelastic scattering experiment at the upgraded 12 GeV continuous electron beam accelerator facility of Jefferson Lab conjugates luminosity and wide acceptance to study the 3D nucleon structure in the yet poorly explored valence region, and to perform precision measurements in hadron spectroscopy. A large area ring-imaging Cherenkov detector has been designed to achieve the required hadron identification in the momentum range from 3 GeV/c to 8 GeV/c, with the kaon rate about one order of magnitude lower than the rate of pions and protons. The adopted solution comprises aerogel radiator and composite mirrors in a novel hybrid optics design, where either direct or reflected light could be imaged in a high-packed and high segmented photon detector. The first RICH module was assembled during the second half of 2017 and installed at the beginning of January 2018, in time for the start of the experiment. The second RICH module, planned with the goal to be ready for the beginning of the operation with polarized targets, has been timely built despite the complications caused by the pandemic crisis and successfully installed in June 2022. The detector performance is here discussed with emphasis on the operation and stability during the data-taking, calibration and alignment procedures, reconstruction and pattern recognition algorithms, and particle identification. 

Measuring deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) on the neutron is one of the necessary steps to understand the structure of the nucleon in terms of generalized parton distributions (GPDs). Neutron targets play a complementary role to transversely polarized proton targets in the determination of the GPD $E$. This poorly known and poorly constrained GPD is essential to obtain the contribution of the quarks’ angular momentum to the spin of the nucleon. DVCS on the neutron was measured for the first time selecting the exclusive final state by detecting the neutron, using the Jefferson Lab longitudinally polarized electron beam, with energies up to 10.6 GeV, and the CLAS12 detector. The extracted beam-spin asymmetries, combined with DVCS observables measured on the proton, allow a clean quark-flavor separation of the imaginary parts of the Compton form factors $\mathcal{H}$and $\mathcal{E}$. Published by the American Physical Society2024 

Abstract. Underwater photogrammetry is a well-established technique for measuring and modelling the subaquatic environment in fields ranging from archaeology to marine ecology. While for simple tasks the acquisition and processing of images have become straightforward, applications requiring relative accuracy better then 1:1000 are still considered challenging. This study focuses on the metric evaluation of different off-the-shelf camera systems for making high resolution and high accuracy measurements of coral reefs monitoring through time, where the variations to be measured are in the range of a few centimeters per year. High quality and low-cost systems (reflex and mirrorless vs action cameras, i.e. GoPro) with multiple lenses (prime and zoom), different fields of views (from fisheye to moderate wide angle), pressure housing materials and lens ports (dome and flat) are compared. Tests are repeated at different camera to object distances to investigate distance dependent induced errors and assess the accuracy of the photogrammetrically derived models. An extensive statistical analysis of the different systems is performed and comparisons against reference control point measured through a high precision underwater geodetic network are reported. 

The evolution of underwater photogrammetry allows to realize 3D models of submerged object and structures throughout the use of rapid and efficient procedures either in terms of data acquisition and data processing. These procedures are based on solutions that are applied using natural control points, signalized markers and tie points; the most common algorithms are based on Structure from Motion (SfM) approach. The limit of these applications is sometimes due to the final accuracy, especially when the goal is a centimeter level of accuracy. This accuracy should be necessary when dealing with a survey devoted to deformation control purposes. An example is the underwater photogrammetry for the determination of coral growth; it is effectively a movement or a deformation detection issue where the geometric change is almost at centimeter or few centimeters accuracy level. When dealing with deformation control applications, a geodetic network is essential to realize a stable and unambiguous reference frame through the accurate and permanent installation of Ground Control Points (GCPs). Such a network, indeed, permits a robust reference frame for the georeferencing of images blocks in the different époques of data acquisition. Therefore, the comparison among subsequent photogrammetric restitutions is based on homogeneous 3D models that have been oriented in the same absolute reference system. The photogrammetric survey is based on a methodological approach especially adapted to underwater biometry (like coral growth determination) and to underwater archaeology. The approach is suitable both for modeling objects of relatively reduced dimensions and for structures with a length of ten meters or more, such as coral barriers, wrecks and long walls. The paper describes underwater photogrammetric surveys on sites at different extensions, the geodetic GCPs reference network installation and measurements (distance and elevation difference observations) as well as preliminary results of the network adjustment. A brief description of image acquisition at a different scales and the resulting 3D model of first campaign are also shown.