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We report STAR measurements of the longitudinal double-spin asymmetry A_LL, the transverse single-spin asymmetry A_N, and the transverse double-spin asymmetries A_Sigma and A_TT for inclusive jet production at mid-rapidity in polarized p+p collisions at a center-of-mass energy of sqrt{s} = 200 GeV. The data represent integrated luminosities of 7.6 /pb with longitudinal polarization and 1.8 /pb with transverse polarization, with 50-55% beam polarization, and were recorded in 2005 and 2006. No evidence is found for the existence of statistically significant jet A_N, A_Sigma, or A_TT at mid-rapidity. Recent model calculations indicate the A_N results may provide new limits on the gluon Sivers distribution in the proton. The asymmetry A_LL significantly improves the knowledge of gluon polarization in the nucleon.
We present preliminary results for the first measurements of the double longitudinal spin asymmetry A_LL in inclusive jet production at mid-rapidity in polarized proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV. The data amount to ~ 0.5 pb-1 collected at RHIC in 2003 and 2004 with beam polarizations up to 45%. The jet transverse energies are in the range of 5 < pT < 17 GeV/c. The data are consistent with theoretical evaluations using deep-inelastic scattering parametrizations for gluon polarization in the nucleon, and tend to disfavor large positive values of gluon polarization.
We report on mid-rapidity mass spectrum of di-electrons and cross sections of pseudoscalar and vector mesons via $e^{+}e^{-}$ decays, from $sqrt{s} = 200$ GeV $p+p$ collisions, measured by the large acceptance experiment STAR at RHIC. The ratio of the di-electron continuum to the combinatorial background is larger than 10% over the entire mass range. Simulations of di-electrons from light-meson decays and heavy-flavor decays (charmonium and open charm correlation) are found to describe the data. The extracted $omegarightarrow e^{+}e^{-}$ invariant yields are consistent with previous measurements. The mid-rapidity yields ($dN/dy$) of $phi$ and $J/psi$ are extracted through their di-electron decay channels and are consistent with the previous measurements of $phirightarrow K^{+}K^{-}$ and $J/psirightarrow e^{+}e^{-}$. Our results suggest a new upper limit of the branching ratio of the $eta rightarrow e^{+}e^{-}$ of $1.7times10^{-5}$ at 90% confidence level.
We report the first measurement of transverse single-spin asymmetries in $J/psi$ production from transversely polarized $p+p$ collisions at $sqrt{s} = 200$ GeV with data taken by the PHENIX experiment in 2006 and 2008. The measurement was performed over the rapidity ranges $1.2 < |y| < 2.2$ and $ |y| < 0.35$ for transverse momenta up to 6 GeV/$c$. $J/psi$ production at RHIC is dominated by processes involving initial-state gluons, and transverse single-spin asymmetries of the $J/psi$ can provide access to gluon dynamics within the nucleon. Such asymmetries may also shed light on the long-standing question in QCD of the $J/psi$ production mechanism. Asymmetries were obtained as a function of $J/psi$ transverse momentum and Feynman-$x$, with a value of $-0.086 pm 0.026^{rm stat} pm 0.003^{rm syst}$ in the forward region. This result suggests possible nonzero trigluon correlation functions in transversely polarized protons and, if well defined in this reaction, a nonzero gluon Sivers distribution function.
The energy dependence of the single-transverse-spin asymmetry, A_N, and the cross section for neutron production at very forward angles were measured in the PHENIX experiment at RHIC for polarized p+p collisions at sqrt(s)=200 GeV. The neutrons were observed in forward detectors covering an angular range of up to 2.2 mrad. We report results for neutrons with momentum fraction of x_F=0.45 to 1.0. The energy dependence of the measured cross sections were consistent with x_F scaling, compared to measurements by an ISR experiment which measured neutron production in unpolarized p+p collisions at sqrt(s)=30.6--62.7 GeV. The cross sections for large x_F neutron production for p+p collisions, as well as those in e+p collisions measured at HERA, are described by a pion exchange mechanism. The observed forward neutron asymmetries were large, reaching A_N=-0.08+/-0.02 for x_F=0.8; the measured backward asymmetries, for negative x_F, were consistent with zero. The observed asymmetry for forward neutron production is discussed within the pion exchange framework, with interference between the spin-flip amplitude due to the pion exchange and nonflip amplitudes from all Reggeon exchanges. Within the pion exchange description, the measured neutron asymmetry is sensitive to the contribution of other Reggeon exchanges even for small amplitudes.
Measurements of transverse-single-spin asymmetries ($A_{N}$) in $p$$+$$p$ collisions at $sqrt{s}=$62.4 and 200 GeV with the PHENIX detector at RHIC are presented. At midrapidity, $A_{N}$ is measured for neutral pion and eta mesons reconstructed from diphoton decay, and at forward rapidities, neutral pions are measured using both diphotons and electromagnetic clusters. The neutral-pion measurement of $A_{N}$ at midrapidity is consistent with zero with uncertainties a factor of 20 smaller than previous publications, which will lead to improved constraints on the gluon Sivers function. At higher rapidities, where the valence quark distributions are probed, the data exhibit sizable asymmetries. In comparison with previous measurements in this kinematic region, the new data extend the kinematic coverage in $sqrt{s}$ and $p_T$, and it is found that the asymmetries depend only weakly on $sqrt{s}$. The origin of the forward $A_{N}$ is presently not understood quantitatively. The extended reach to higher $p_T$ probes the transition between transverse momentum dependent effects at low $p_T$ and multi-parton dynamics at high $p_T$.