We present a next-to-leading order QCD calculation of the cross section and longitudinal spin asymmetry in single-inclusive charged-lepton production, pp -> l X, at RHIC, where the lepton is produced in the decay of an electroweak gauge boson. Our calculation is presented in terms of a multi-purpose Monte-Carlo integration program that may be readily used to include experimental spin asymmetry data in a global analysis of helicity parton densities. We perform a toy global analysis, studying the impact of anticipated RHIC data on our knowledge about the polarized anti-quark distributions.
The double longitudinal-spin asymmetry, $A_{LL}$, of the $J/ψ$ production in polarized proton-proton collisions is presented in this paper at QCD next-to-leading order. It is found that the obtained values of $A_{LL}$ are in general consistent with the PHENIX measurements. Various sets of the long-distance matrix elements (LDMEs) are employed in our calculation to study the possible theoretical uncertainties. It is found that, for $p_t<5\gev$, all these LDMEs lead to almost the same results, which are within the tolerance of the experimental data uncertainties.
Some nonperturbative aspects of spin studies at RHIC are discussed and the predictions for single- and two-spin asymmetries are given. Among them are those which emphasize the role of angular orbital momentum in the spin structure of the constituent quarks.
We study the single longitudinal-spin asymmetries in lepton-pair production with large transverse-momentum at RHIC and J-PARC experiments. The asymmetries in the azimuthal angular distribution of a lepton can arise from an absorptive part of production amplitudes. We revisit the one-loop calculation for the absorptive part of production amplitudes in perturbative QCD, and show that the asymmetries can be sizable at RHIC and J-PARC. Measurement of the asymmetries would test the one-loop prediction for the scattering phase of this process, and provide support for a study of the single transverse…
The W boson can obtain a small right-handed coupling to quarks and leptons through mixing with a hypothetical W' boson that appears in many extensions of the Standard Model. Measuring or even bounding this coupling to the light quarks is very challenging. Only one model independent bound on the absolute value of the complex mixing parameter has been obtained to date. Here we discuss a method sensitive to both the real and CP-violating imaginary parts of the coupling, independent of assumptions on the new physics, and demonstrate quantitatively the feasibility of its measurement at RHIC.
We give upper bounds for transverse double-spin asymmetries in polarized proton-proton collisions by saturating the positivity constraint for the transversity densities at a low hadronic resolution scale. We consider prompt photon, jet, pion, and heavy flavor production at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). Estimates of the expected statistical accuracy for such measurements are presented, taking into account the acceptance of the RHIC detectors.
We derive the analog of the Wandzura-Wilczek relation for the light-cone distributions of polarized gluons in a transversely polarized nucleon. The short distance cross-section is entirely due to the intrinsic transverse momenta of gluon in the nucleon, in complete analogy to the quark case. Numerical estimate for the double spin transverse asymmetries at RHIC are presented.
We study the single transverse-spin asymmetry for the inclusive direct-photon and single-jet productions in the proton-proton collision based on the twist-3 mechanism in the collinear factorization. Taking into account all the effects from the twist-3 quark-gluon correlation functions inside a transversely polarized proton, we present a prediction for the asymmetries at the typical RHIC kinematics. In both processes we find sizable asymmetries in the forward region of the polarized proton while they are almost zero in the backward region. This implies that if one finds a nonzero asymmetries in…
The polarized antiquark distributions in the proton can be measured by studying spin asymmetries in vector boson production in longitudinally polarized proton-proton collisions. The STAR and PHENIX experiments at BNL RHIC have reported first observations of single spin asymmetries in $W^\pm$-production most recently. We compute the QCD corrections to single and double spin asymmetries, taking account of the leptonic decay of the $W^\pm$ boson and of restrictions on the kinematical acceptance of the detectors. The QCD corrections have only a small impact on the asymmetries, such that a reliable…
It is pointed out that the heavy singlet neutrinos characteristic of leptogenesis develop asymmetries in the abundances of the two helicity states as a result of the same mechanism that generates asymmetries in the standard lepton sector. Neutrinos and standard leptons interchange asymmetries in collisions with each other. It is shown that an appropriate quantum number, B-L', combining baryon, lepton and neutrino asymmetries, is not violated as fast as the standard B-L. This suppresses the washout effects relevant for the derivation of the final baryon asymmetry. One presents detailed calculat…
A new handed interaction between quarks could be at the origin of some small parity violating effects in the inclusive production of one-jet in polarized $pp$ collisions. This interaction could originate from compositeness or from the presence of a new massive vector boson. The measurement of such asymmetries could be performed within a few years by using the RHIC collider as a polarized proton-proton collider.
The transverse momentum dependent helicity distributions of valence quarks are calculated in the light-cone diquark model by adopting two different approaches. We use the model results to analyze the $P_{h\perp}$-dependent double spin asymmetries for $π^+$, $π^-$ and $π^0$ productions in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering, and find that the asymmetries agree with the CLAS data in one of the approaches. By taking the Fourier transform of the transverse momentum dependent helicity distributions, we obtain the helicity distributions of valence quarks in the transverse coordinate space, and …
We show that the measurement of some parity violating asymmetry in the production of a large ET jet could reveal the presence of a new hadrophilic Z' such as the one recently introduced to interpret possible departures from the Standard Model predictions both at LEP and at CDF. Such a measurement could be perform within a few years by the RHIC Spin Collaboration (RSC) using the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) as a polarized proton-proton collider.
One purpose of this meeting is to assess the physics potential of HERA-N Stage I. To develop a reasonable perspective, it is useful to look at other spin experiments. For completeness, this report discusses some of the single spin physics that has appeared in studies relating to the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). (Talk presented during the meeting on ``The Measurement of Singly Polarized Collisions at HERA'' held at DESY-Zeuthen, Germany, 31 August-1 September 1995.)
Recently, the RHICf Collaboration measured the transverse single-spin asymmetries of the very forward neutral pion in polarized $p+p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=510$ GeV, produced at large pseudorapidity ($η\gtrsim 6$). The data show large asymmetries both in longitudinal momentum fraction $x_F$ and transverse momentum $p_T$ at $p_T<1\,\mathrm{GeV}/c$. Employing baryonic triple Regge exchanges, we describe the complete RHICf data for the first time and show that the neutral pion production at low $p_T$ can be interpreted as a diffractive one.
We study double transverse spin asymmetries in the Drell-Yan process at measured transverse momentum of the lepton pair. Contrary to what a collinear factorization approach would suggest, a nonzero double transverse spin asymmetry in the laboratory frame a priori does not imply nonzero transversity. TMD effects, such as the double Sivers effect, in principle form a background. Using the current knowledge of the relevant TMDs we estimate their contribution in the laboratory frame for Drell-Yan and W production at RHIC and point out a cross check asymmetry measurement to bound the TMD contributi…
We study inclusive Lambda hyperon production in pp collisions at BNL RHIC, with just one transversely polarized proton. We show that the measurement of the spin transfer between the initial proton and the produced Lambda is sensitive to the proton transversity distributions and to the corresponding Lambda transversity fragmentation functions. In view of our present ignorance of these distributions and fragmentation functions, we resort to positivity bounds for making some predictions for the corresponding spin transfer asymmetry.
The hypermagnetic helicity density at the electroweak phase transition (EWPT) exceeds many orders of magnitude the galactic magnetic helicity density. Together with previous magnetic helicity evolution calculations after the EWPT and hypermagnetic helicity conversion to the magnetic one at the EWPT, the present calculation completes the description of the evolution of this important topological feature of cosmological magnetic fields. It suggests that if the magnetic field seeding the galactic dynamo has a primordial origin, it should be substantially helical. This should be taken into account…
We present a generalized QCD factorization scheme for the high energy inclusive polarized process, (A, S_A) + (B, S_B) -> C + X, including all intrinsic partonic motions. This introduces many non-trivial azimuthal phases and several new spin and k_T dependent soft functions. The formal expressions for single and double spin asymmetries are discussed. Numerical results for A_N[p(transv. polarized) p -> pi + X] are presented.
We investigate the potentialities offered by the study of J/psi exclusive photo-production in ultra-peripheral collisions at a fixed-target experiment using the proton and lead LHC beams (generically denoted as AFTER@LHC) on hydrogen targets and at RHIC in the collider mode. We compare the expected counting rates in both set-ups. Studying Single-Transverse-Spin Asymmetries (A_N) in such a process provides a direct path to the proton Generalised Parton Distribution (GPD) E_g(x,xi,t). We evaluate the expected precision on A_N for realistic conditions with the LHCb detector in pH(pol) and PbH(pol…
We consider within a generalized QCD factorization approach, the high energy inclusive polarized process p p --> pion + X, including all intrinsic partonic motions. Several new spin and k_T-dependent soft functions appear and contribute to cross sections and spin asymmetries. We present here formal expressions for transverse single spin asymmetries and double longitudinal ones. The transverse single spin asymmetry, A_N, is considered in detail, and all contributions are evaluated numerically. It is shown that the azimuthal phase integrations strongly suppress most contributions, leaving at wor…
The analysis\cite{ohkuma:1} of helicity transfer to $Λ_{c}^{+}$ in polarized proton collisions is extended to the proton helicity correlations with the $Λ_{c}^{+}$ transverse polarization in the production plane (parameter $D_{LS}$). The available spin transfer observables for the collisions of {\em two} longitudinally polarized protons are evaluated. It is shown that, in the central region at $Λ_{c}^{+}$ transverse momenta of a few GeV/c, $D_{LS}$ parameters are of about the same size as the helicity-to-helicity correlations. The methodical issue of using spin transfers for cross-checks of sy…
We discuss polarized parton distributions and their effects on spin asymmetries at RHIC. In particular, transversity distributions and transverse spin asymmetry are studied. First, we show the $Q^2$ evolution difference between a transversity distribution and a corresponding longitudinally polarized distribution. The difference could be an important test of perturbative QCD in high-energy spin physics. Then, the transverse spin asymmetry $A_{TT}$ is calculated with possible transversity distributions. Next, we study antiquark flavor asymmetry $Δ_{_T} \bar u/ Δ_{_T} \bar d$ in the transversity …
We discuss possible origins of transverse spin asymmetries in hadron-hadron collisions and propose an explanation in terms of a chiral-odd T-odd distribution function with intrinsic transverse momentum dependence, which would signal a correlation between the transverse spin and the transverse momentum of quarks inside an unpolarized hadron. We will argue that despite its conceptual problems, it can account for single spin asymmetries, for example in p + p(transversely polarized) -> pion + X, and at the same time for the large cos(2 phi) asymmetry in the unpolarized Drell-Yan cross section, whi…
We calculate the single-spin asymmetries $A^{W^{\pm}}_{L}$ of $W^{\pm}$ bosons produced in polarized pp collisions with the valence part of the up and down quark helicity distributions modeled by the light-cone quark-spectator-diquark model while the sea part helicity distributions of the up and down quarks treated as parametrization. Comparing our results with those from experimental data at RHIC, we find that the helicity distributions of sea quarks play an important role in the determination of the shapes of $A^{W^{\pm}}_{L}$. It is shown that $A^{W^{-}}_{L}$ is sensitive to $Δ\bar u$, whil…
We consider the production of $W$ and $Z / γ^{*}$ gauge bosons in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 510 \mbox{GeV}$ available at RHIC at BNL, operating at high luminosity. We stress the importance of measuring the transverse double-spin asymmetries $A_{TT}$, in connection with available transversely polarized beams with a high degree of polarisation. We will discuss some theoretical issues related to the predicted asymmetries. These studies are contrasted to the 2017 RHIC running operation of transversely polarized beams of mid-rapidity $W$ and $Z$ boson produc…
We study the spin correlations to probe time-reversal~(T) asymmetries in the decays of $Λ_b \to ΛV ~(V=ϕ, ρ^0, ω, K^{*0})$. The eigenstates of the T-odd operators are obtained along with definite angular momenta. We obtain the T-odd spin correlations from the complex phases among the helicity amplitudes. We give the angular distributions of $Λ_b \to Λ(\to p π^-)V(\to PP')$ and show the corresponding spin correlations, where $P^{(\prime)}$ are the pseudoscalar mesons. Due to the helicity conservation of the $s$ quark in $Λ$, we deduce that the polarization asymmetries of $Λ$ are close to $-1$. …
The longitudinally polarized gluon density is probed sensitively in hard collisions of polarized protons under the condition that the dominant dynamics are perturbative and of leading twist origin. First data have recently been presented by Phenix on the double-spin asymmetry A_{LL}^{pi} for pi^0 production at moderate transverse momentum p_\perp \simeq 1 - 4 GeV and central rapidity. By means of a systematic investigation of the relevant degrees of freedom we show that the perturbative QCD framework at leading power in p_\perp produces an asymmetry that is basically positive definite in this …
We calculate the single-spin asymmetries $A^{W^{\pm}}_{N}$ of $W^{\pm}$ bosons produced in transversely polarized pp collisions with the valence part of the up (u) and down (d) quark Sivers functions treated by an available parametrization and the light-cone quark spectator-diquark model respectively, while the sea part Sivers functions of u and d quarks treated as parametrization. Comparing our results with those from experimental data at RHIC, we find that the Sivers functions of sea quarks play an important role in the determination of the shapes of $A^{W^{\pm}}_{N}$. It is shown that $A^{W…
We report on a calculation of the full one-loop weak corrections through the order $α_{\mathrm{S}}^2α_{\mathrm{W}}$ to parton-parton scattering in all possible channels at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) running with polarised $pp$ beams (RHIC-Spin). This study extends the analysis previously carried out for the case of $2\to2$ subprocesses with two external gluons, by including all possible four-quark modes with and without an external gluon. The additional contributions due to the new four-quarks processes are extremely large, of order 50 to 100% (of either sign), not only in the …
We investigate the Collins azimuthal asymmetry of hadrons produced inside jets in transversely polarized proton-proton collisions. Recently, the quark transversity distributions and the Collins fragmentation functions have been extracted within global analyses from data of the processes semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering and electron-positron annihilation. We calculate the Collins azimuthal asymmetry for charged pions inside jets using these extractions for RHIC kinematics at center-of-mass energies of 200 and 500 GeV. We compare our results with recent data from the STAR Collaboration a…
We perform a study of $W$-boson production in polarized proton-proton collisions through next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) in perturbative QCD. This calculation is required to extend the extraction of polarized parton distribution functions to NNLO accuracy. We present differential distributions at $\sqrt{s}=510$ GeV, relevant for comparison to measurements from the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The NNLO QCD corrections significantly reduce the scale dependence of the cross section. We compare the longitudinal single-spin asymmetries as a function of lepton pseudorapidity to RHIC …
In order to measure spin-dependent parton distributions in production of weak bosons using the non-hermetic detectors of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, an accurate model for distributions of charged leptons from the W boson decay is needed. We discuss the predictions for production and decay of the W bosons based on a calculation for resummation of large logarithmic contributions originating from multiple soft gluon radiation. We compare the predictions for the spin-dependent resummed cross sections with the corresponding next-to-leading order results. We show that the lepton-level asymm…
We calculate the double transverse-spin asymmetries, $\aqt$, in transversely polarized Drell-Yan process at the transverse-momentum $Q_T$ of the produced lepton pair. We perform all-order resummation of the logarithmically enhanced contributions in the relevant Drell-Yan cross sections at small $Q_T$, which are due to multiple soft gluon emission in QCD, up to the next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy. The asymmetries $\aqt$ to be observed in polarized experiments at RHIC and J-PARC are studied numerically as a function of $Q_T$. We show that the effects of the soft gluon resummation to the pol…
I study the impact of recent measurements performed at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider on the determination of helicity-dependent parton distribution functions of the proton. Specifically, I consider: preliminary data on longitudinally single-spin asymmetries for $W$-boson production recorded by the STAR experiment during the 2013 run at a center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=510$ GeV; data on longitudinally double-spin asymmetries for di-jet production recorded by the STAR experiment during the 2009 run at $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV; and data on longitudinally double-spin asymmetries for neutral pion …
We present an analytic next-to-leading order QCD calculation of the partonic cross sections for single-inclusive lepton production in hadronic collisions, when the lepton originates from the decay of an intermediate electroweak boson and is produced at high transverse momentum. In particular, we consider the case of incoming longitudinally polarized protons for which parity-violating single-spin asymmetries arise that are exploited in the $W$ boson program at RHIC to constrain the proton's helicity parton distributions. Our calculation enables a very fast and efficient numerical computation of…
Generalized parton distributions (GPDs) with purely transverse momentum transfer can be interpreted as Fourier transforms of the distribution of partons in impact parameter space. The helicity-flip GPD $E(x,0,-\Dps)$ is related to the distortion of parton distribution functions in impact parameter space if the target is not a helicity eigenstate, but has some transverse polarization. This transverse distortion can be used to develop an intuitive explanation for various transverse single spin asymmetries.
In this paper we study azimuthal asymmetries of the muon pair production in ultraperipheral heavy ion collisions within the joint impact parameter and transverse momentum dependent framework. The final state QED radiation effects are resummed to all orders in perturbation theory, where the complete muon mass corrections are also taken into account. We further make numerical estimations for azimuthal asymmetries in the different kinematic regions accessible at RHIC and LHC with the derived resummation formula. We find that the lepton mass effects can give sizable corrections to the asymmetries …
We consider the recent RHIC data on the transverse single spin asymmetry (SSA) A_N, measured in p(transv. polarized) p -> pi^0 X processes at mid-rapidity by the PHENIX collaboration. The measurement is consistent with a vanishing SSA. We analyze this experimental information within a hard scattering approach based on a generalized QCD factorization scheme, with unintegrated, transverse momentum dependent (TMD), parton distribution and fragmentation functions. It turns out that, in the kinematical region of the data, only the gluon Sivers effect could give a large contribution to A_N; its vani…
The production of D mesons in the scattering of transversely polarized protons off unpolarized protons at RHIC offers a clear opportunity to gain information on the Sivers gluon distribution function. D production at intermediate rapidity values is dominated by the elementary g g --> c cbar channel; contributions from q qbar --> c cbar s-channel become important only at very large values of x_F. In both processes there is no single spin transfer, so that the final c or cbar quarks are not polarized. Therefore, any transverse single spin asymmetry observed for D's produced in p(transv. polarize…
We study the production of $W^{\pm}$ and $Z$ gauge bosons in proton-proton and proton-neutron collisions up to a center-of-mass energy $\sqrt s=0.5\ TeV$, in connection with the realistic possibility of having proton-deuteron collisions at RHIC with a high luminosity. We stress the importance of measuring unpolarized cross sections for a better determination of the flavor asymmetry of the sea quarks. Since polarized proton beams will be available at RHIC, we evaluate several spin-dependent observables like, double helicity asymmetries $A_{LL}$ as a test of the sea quark polarization, double tr…
We calculate the transverse double-spin asymmetry for the production of dimuons in pp collisions as function of the dimuon rapidity and mass to next-to-leading accuracy in the strong coupling. Predictions for BNL-RHIC and HERA-N are made by assuming a saturation of Soffer's inequality at a low hadronic input scale. It seems unlikely that transversity can be measured in dimuon production at RHIC.
We study the transverse single-spin asymmetry (TSSA) in $p^{\uparrow}p \to J/ψX$ reaction, incorporating both transverse-momentum and spin effects. To predict production cross section of prompt $J/ψ$ we use two different approaches, the non-relativistic QCD (NRQCD) factorization approach and the Improved Color Evaporation Model (ICEM), and show how the predicted results for TSSAs depend on choice of hadronization model. For initial-state factorization we consider two models: the standard Generalized Parton Model (GPM) and the Colour Gauge-Invariant version of it (CGI-GPM). We demonstrate that …
We study the resummation of large logarithmic perturbative corrections to the partonic cross sections relevant for the process pp -> W^+- X at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). At RHIC, polarized protons are available, and spin asymmetries for this process will be used for precise measurements of the up and down quark and anti-quark distributions in the proton. The corrections arise near the threshold for the partonic reaction and are associated with soft-gluon emission. We perform the resummation to next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy, for the rapidity-differential cross sectio…
We investigate the scaling properties in inclusive hadron production and the associated single transverse spin asymmetry in the forward rapidity region at RHIC. We find that the spin-averaged experimental data in both $pp$ and $dAu$ collisions demonstrates a transverse-momentum-dependent geometric scaling. We introduce the transverse momentum dependent Collins fragmentation function to study the scaling of the single transverse spin asymmetries. The general feature of the scaling analysis is consistent with the experimental observations, in particular, for the transverse momentum dependence of…
We consider two different spin asymmetries in Drell-Yan processes generated by the collisions of an unpolarized proton beam on transversely polarized protons: the muon helicity asymmetry and the left-right asymmetry. We calculate the asymmetries in the framework of the QCD improved parton model, taking into account the parton transverse momentum and considering the first order QCD corrections. The muon helicity asymmetry is sensitive to the quark transversity distribution and is nonvanishing even at zero order. On the contrary the left-right asymmetry vanishes at zero order but not at first or…
There have been many versions of spin-dependent parton distributions in the literature. Although most agree with present data within uncertainties, they are based upon different physical assumptions. Some physical models are discussed and the corresponding predictions for double spin asymmetries are shown. A summary of the most feasible measurements in the appropriate kinematic regions at RHIC, which should yield the most useful information about the polarized gluon distribution, is given.
By adopting a generalised parton model approach at leading order in QCD, including spin and intrinsic parton motion effects, we study the Collins azimuthal asymmetries for pions within a large-$p_T$ jet produced at mid-rapidity in polarised hadronic collisions. Using available information on the quark transversity distributions and the pion Collins functions, as extracted from semi-inclusive deeply inelastic scattering and $e^+e^-\to h_1 h_2\, X$ processes, we compute estimates for the Collins asymmetries in kinematical configurations presently investigated at RHIC by the STAR Collaboration. C…
We calculate the helicity amplitudes for scattering of a quark from both large and small $x$ gluons of a target proton or nucleus using spinor helicity formalism. We show that scattering from large $x$ gluons of the target results in non-zero spin asymmetry at intermediate $p_t$ as well as rapidity loss of the projectile quark. We comment on how this can also generate angular asymmetries in particle production in high energy collisions.
We consider longitudinal, parity-violating single-spin asymmetries in proton-proton collisions at RHIC. The focus of this study is on the production of single-inclusive jets, as well as on jets that contain a charm quark. While the asymmetry for inclusive jets turns out to be small, we find considerably larger effects for the case of charm production. We also investigate the role of leading threshold logarithms and find that they increase the polarized and unpolarized cross sections and reduce the spin asymmetry.
We evaluate the azimuthal asymmetries for the distributions of leading pions inside a jet, produced in high-energy proton-proton collisions, in kinematic configurations currently under active investigation at RHIC. Adopting a transverse momentum dependent approach, which assumes the validity of a perturbative QCD factorization scheme and takes into account all the spin and intrinsic parton motion effects, we show how the main mechanisms underlying these asymmetries, namely the Sivers and the Collins effects, can be disentangled. Furthermore, we consider the impact of color-gauge invariant init…
A study of top quark production at the future International Linear Collider, ILC, with a centre-of-mass energy of 500 GeV is presented. The emphasis is put on determining the sensitivity to physics beyond the Standard Model. The analysis has been carried out with a full simulation of the ILD detector. Both, the forward-backward asymmetry and the left-right asymmetry can be determined to a precision of about 1% to 1.5%. The analysis points out an ambiguity which arises in case of the production of top-quarks with left-handed helicity.
We calculate the contribution of the non-perturbative Pauli couplings in the quark-photon and quark-gluon vertices to the single-spin asymmetries (SSAs) in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering (SIDIS). We describe the nucleon using the spectator model with scalar and axial-vector diquarks. Both of the new couplings can cause the helicity flip of the struck quark. The helicity flip and the rescattering induced by the non-perturbative gluon exchange between the struck quark and diquark lead to the SSAs. Their azimuthal dependencies are the same as that usually ascribed to the Collins and Siv…
We study polarized Semi-Inclusive Deep Inelastic Scattering (SIDIS) processes, within the QCD parton model and a factorization scheme, taking into account all transverse motions, of partons inside the initial proton and of hadrons inside the fragmenting partons. We use the helicity formalism. The elementary interactions are computed at LO with non collinear exact kinematics, which introduces phases in the expressions of their helicity amplitudes. Several Transverse Momentum Dependent (TMD) distribution and fragmentation functions appear and contribute to the cross sections and to spin asymmetr…
We study the helicity distributions of light flavor quark-antiquark ($q \bar{q}$) pairs in the nucleon sea. The valence quarks are handled by adopting the light-cone SU(6) quark-spectator-diquark model and the sea $q \bar{q}$ pairs are treated from statistical consideration by introducing the helicity suppression factors $l_q(x)$ and $\bar l_q(x)$ to parametrize the helicity distributions of q-flavor sea quark and antiquark respectively, while $Δl_q(x)=l_q(x)-\bar l_q(x)$ represents a combined effect of helicity contribution due to sea $q \bar{q}$ pairs. From fitting the nucleon polarization a…
We study parity-even and parity-odd polarization observables for the process $p \, p \to l^{\pm} \, X$, where the lepton comes from the decay of a $W$-boson. By using the collinear twist-3 factorization approach, we consider the case when one proton is transversely polarized, while the other is either unpolarized or longitudinally polarized. These observables give access to two particular quark-gluon-quark correlation functions, which have a direct relation to transverse momentum dependent parton distributions. We present numerical estimates for RHIC kinematics. Measuring, for instance, the pa…
We discuss some recent developments concerning the nucleon's helicity parton distribution functions: New preliminary data from jet production at RHIC suggest for the first time a non-vanishing polarization of gluons in the nucleon. SIDIS measurements at COMPASS provide better constraints on the strange and light sea quark helicity distributions. Single-longitudinal spin asymmetries in W-boson production have been observed at RHIC and will ultimately give new insights into the light quark and anti-quark helicity structure of the nucleon.
We study the cross section for vector boson ($W^{\pm}/Z^0/γ^*$) production in polarized nucleon-nucleon collisions for low transverse momentum of the observed vector boson. For the case where one measures the transverse momentum and azimuthal angle of the vector bosons, we present the cross sections and the associated spin asymmetries in terms of transverse momentum dependent parton distribution functions (TMDs) at tree level within the TMD factorization formalism. To assess the feasibility of experimental measurements, we estimate the spin asymmetries for $W^{\pm}/Z^0$ boson production in pol…
Hadroproductions of charmonium and bottomonium $χ_J$ in polarized $pp$ collisions at RHIC energies are studied. Two--spin asymmetries $A_{LL}^{χ_J}(pp)$ for these reactions are very good parameters for examining the polarized gluon distributions in a proton.
