No Arabic abstract
We report the first measurements of transverse single-spin asymmetries for inclusive jet and jet + $pi^{pm}$ production at midrapidity from transversely polarized proton-proton collisions at $sqrt{s} = 500$ GeV. The data were collected in 2011 with the STAR detector sampled from 23 pb$^{-1}$ integrated luminosity with an average beam polarization of 53%. Asymmetries are reported for jets with transverse momenta $6 < p_{T, jet} < 55$ GeV/c and pseudorapidity $|eta| < 1$. Presented are measurements of the inclusive-jet azimuthal transverse single-spin asymmetry, sensitive to twist-3 initial-state quark-gluon correlators; the Collins asymmetry, sensitive to quark transversity coupled to the polarized Collins fragmentation function; and the first measurement of the Collins-like asymmetry, sensitive to linearly polarized gluons. Within the present statistical precision, inclusive-jet and Collins-like asymmetries are small, with the latter allowing the first experimental constraints on gluon linear polarization in a polarized proton. At higher values of jet transverse momenta, we observe the first non-zero Collins asymmetries in polarized-proton collisions, with a statistical significance of greater than $5sigma$. The results span a range of x similar to results from SIDIS but at much higher $Q^{2}$. The Collins results enable tests of universality and factorization-breaking in the transverse momentum-dependent formulation of perturbative quantum chromodynamics.
The transversity distribution, which describes transversely polarized quarks in transversely polarized nucleons, is a fundamental component of the spin structure of the nucleon, and is only loosely constrained by global fits to existing semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering (SIDIS) data. In transversely polarized $p^uparrow+p$ collisions it can be accessed using transverse polarization dependent fragmentation functions which give rise to azimuthal correlations between the polarization of the struck parton and the final state scalar mesons. This letter reports on spin dependent di-hadron correlations measured by the STAR experiment. The new dataset corresponds to 25 pb$^{-1}$ integrated luminosity of $p^uparrow+p$ collisions at $sqrt{s}=500$ GeV, an increase of more than a factor of ten compared to our previous measurement at $sqrt{s}=200$ GeV. Non-zero asymmetries sensitive to transversity are observed at a $Q^2$ of several hundred GeV and are found to be consistent with the former measurement and a model calculation. %we observe consistent with the former measurement are observed.} We expect that these data will enable an extraction of transversity with comparable precision to current SIDIS datasets but at much higher momentum transfers where subleading effects are suppressed.
The STAR Collaboration reports measurements of the transverse single-spin asymmetry (TSSA) of inclusive $pi^0$ at center-of-mass energies ($sqrt s$) of 200 GeV and 500 GeV in transversely polarized proton-proton collisions in the pseudo-rapidity region 2.7 to 4.0. The results at the two different energies show a continuous increase of the TSSA with Feynman-$x$, and, when compared to previous measurements, no dependence on $sqrt s$ from 19.4 GeV to 500 GeV is found. To investigate the underlying physics leading to this large TSSA, different topologies have been studied. $pi^0$ with no nearby particles tend to have a higher TSSA than inclusive $pi^0$. The TSSA for inclusive electromagnetic jets, sensitive to the Sivers effect in the initial state, is substantially smaller, but shows the same behavior as the inclusive $pi^0$ asymmetry as a function of Feynman-$x$. To investigate final-state effects, the Collins asymmetry of $pi^0$ inside electromagnetic jets has been measured. The Collins asymmetry is analyzed for its dependence on the $pi^0$ momentum transverse to the jet thrust axis and its dependence on the fraction of jet energy carried by the $pi^0$. The asymmetry was found to be small in each case for both center-of-mass energies. All the measurements are compared to QCD-based theoretical calculations for transverse-momentum-dependent parton distribution functions and fragmentation functions. Some discrepancies are found, which indicates new mechanisms might be involved.
Transverse single spin asymmetry, $A_{N}$, of very forward $pi^{0}$ production from polarized $p + p$ collisions provides new information toward an understanding of its production mechanism. $A_{N}$ of forward $pi^{0}$ in the pseudorapidity region of $3 < eta < 4$ has been described by the partonic structure of the proton in the perturbative QCD framework. However, recent data indicates a potential contribution from not only partonic but also diffractive interactions. In order to provide a new insight on the origin of the $A_{N}$, we measured the very forward $pi^{0}$ production in the pseudorapidity region of $6 < eta$ from $sqrt{s}$ = 510 GeV polarized $p + p$ collisions at RHIC in 2017. We report our measurement of the very forward $pi^{0}$ over the transverse momentum range of $0 < p_{T} < 1$ GeV/$c$ and the preliminary result.
The PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider has measured the longitudinal double spin asymmetries, $A_{LL}$, for charged pions at midrapidity ($|eta|<0.35$) in longitudinally polarized $p$$+$$p$ collisions at $sqrt{s}=510$ GeV. These measurements are sensitive to the gluon spin contribution to the total spin of the proton in the parton momentum fraction $x$ range between 0.04 and 0.09. One can infer the sign of the gluon polarization from the ordering of pion asymmetries with charge alone. The asymmetries are found to be consistent with global quantum-chromodynamics fits of deep-inelastic scattering and data at $sqrt{s}=200$ GeV, which show a nonzero positive contribution of gluon spin to the proton spin.
We report high-precision measurements of the longitudinal double-spin asymmetry, $A_{LL}$, for midrapidity inclusive jet and dijet production in polarized $pp$ collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $sqrt{s}=200,mathrm{GeV}$. The new inclusive jet data are sensitive to the gluon helicity distribution, $Delta g(x,Q^2)$, for gluon momentum fractions in the range from $x simeq 0.05$ to $x simeq 0.5$, while the new dijet data provide further constraints on the $x$ dependence of $Delta g(x,Q^2)$. The results are in good agreement with previous measurements at $sqrt{s}=200,mathrm{GeV}$ and with recent theoretical evaluations of prior world data. Our new results have better precision and thus strengthen the evidence that $Delta g(x,Q^2)$ is positive for $x > 0.05$.