JLAB12 is an experiment of INFN (National Institute of Nuclear Physics) that includes all the activities at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (USA). Jefferson Lab is a laboratory of the Department of Energy (DOE) of the United States for the study of nuclear physics equipped with an intermediate energy electron accelerator (~10 GeV) and four experimental rooms, A, B C and D, equipped with the instrumentation typical of particle physics experiments.

The objective of the experiment is to study the dynamics and internal structure of hadrons and nuclei through the scattering of electrons (longitudinal polarized) against nuclear targets (polarized). The Italian collaboration, consisting of more than 50 physicists and engineers, collaborates with a community of more than 1300 researchers present at JLab to carry out a large research program in hadronic physics.

The areas of interest from the JLAB12 collaboration are: nucleon and nucleus form factors; nucleon structure functions; weak electron-nucleon interactions, meson spectroscopy; hadron interaction in (hyper)nuclei; physics research beyond the Standard Model. The experimental activity of JLAB12 is supported by the community of Italian theoretical physicists who participate with more than 30 researchers in the study of QCD, which governs the structure of hadrons, and the interpretation of experimental results.

The activity at JLAB is co-financed in Italy by the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN).