Polarization Observables for Kaon Photoproduction from Transversely Polarized Protons

The search for undiscovered excited states of the nucleon continues to be a focus of experiments at Jefferson Lab. Recent LQCD calculations are consistent with the long standing quark model predictions of many more states than have so far been identified [1]. Polarization observables play a crucial role in this effort, as they are essential in disentangling overlapping resonant and non-resonant amplitudes. Recent coupled-channel analyses [2] have found strong sensitivity of the K$+$ Lambda channel to several higher mass nucleon resonances. In 2010, double-polarization data were taken at JLab using circularly and linearly polarized photons incident on a transversely polarized frozen spin butanol target [3]. The photons were energy-marked using the Hall B photon tagging system and the reaction products were detected in CLAS. We will present preliminary data of the T, F, and H asymmetries of the K$+$ Lambda and K$+$ Sigma final states with comparisons to predictions of recent multipole analyses. There are very few published measurements of the T asymmetry and none of the F and H asymmetries for the K$+$ Lambda channel. K$+$ Sigma has no published data for these asymmetries. This work is the first of its kind and will significantly broaden the world database for these reactions.\\[4pt] [1] R.G. Edwards et al., Phys Rev D84 074508 (2011).\\[0pt] [2] A.V. Anisovich et al., Eur. Phys. J. A48 (2012) 15.\\[0pt] [3] C.D. Keith et al., Nucl. Instr. Meth. A694 (2012) 27.