Measurement of the analyzing power in inclusive, high-x(F) charged pion production with a 200 GeV/c polarized proton beam

Date
1991
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract

The analyzing power, A\sbN, in inclusive π\sp+ and π− production by a 200 GeV/c polarized proton beam was found to have a striking x\sbF dependence in which the magnitude of A\sbN increases from 0 to 0.42 for the π\sp+ data and decreases from 0 to −0.38 for the π\sp− data for increasing x\sbF over the kinematic range 0.2≤x\sbF≤0.9 and 0.2GeV/c≤p\sbT≤2.0GeV/c. The higher values of x\sbF and p\sbT in these kinematic ranges insure that the measured particle came from an interaction of the beam and target through a direct channel and that quark scattering through gluon exchange is the dominant interaction. The charged pions were identified and tracked with a large forward multi-particle spectrometer based upon a Helium gas threshold Cherenkov counter. A simple parton recombination model correctly predicts the signs of the spin parameters measured in this experiment. It also correctly predicts the magnitudes of the π\sp+ and π\sp∘ analyzing power at high x\sbF but the π\sp− analyzing power is twice the predicted value. The π\sp+, π\sp−, and π\sp∘ analyzing powers were also measured with a polarized anti-proton beam. These data and their interpretation with the simple model suggest that the transverse spin of the proton can be correlated with its quarks in certain kinematic regions, however, the details are still not well understood.

Description
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Type
Thesis
Keywords
Particle physics, Elementary particles, High energy physics
Citation

White, Joseph LaSalle. "Measurement of the analyzing power in inclusive, high-x(F) charged pion production with a 200 GeV/c polarized proton beam." (1991) Diss., Rice University. https://hdl.handle.net/1911/16585.

Has part(s)
Forms part of
Published Version
Rights
Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.
Link to license
Citable link to this page