Cross section results for deeply virtual Compton scattering with CLAS

The internal structure of the nucleon still presents fundamental questions, regarding the spatial and momentum distributions of the quarks and gluons, i.e. the partons, correlated inside the nucleon, that remain to be resolved. Generalized parton distributions (GPDs) are functions describing the complex internal structure of the nucleon and can be accessed through the study of hard exclusive processes. A measurement of unpolarized and beam-polarized four-fold cross sections for the electroproduction of a real photon, ep → e'p'γ, was performed with the CEBAF large acceptance spectrometer (CLAS) and the 5.75-GeV polarized electron beam of the Jefferson Lab accelerator, for 110 (Q ² , x _B , t) bins over the largest kinematic domain ever explored in the valence-quark region. Several GPD models present good agreement with the cross section data at most of the measured kinematics. These experimental results show promising elements of a first tomographic image of the nucleon.