Unveiling the proton spin decomposition at a future electron-ion collider

Elke C. Aschenauer, Rodolfo Sassot, and Marco Stratmann
Phys. Rev. D 92, 094030 – Published 24 November 2015

Abstract

We present a detailed assessment of how well a future electron-ion collider could constrain helicity parton distributions in the nucleon and, therefore, unveil the role of the intrinsic spin of quarks and gluons in the proton’s spin budget. Any remaining deficit in this decomposition will provide the best indirect constraint on the contribution due to the total orbital angular momenta of quarks and gluons. Specifically, all our studies are performed in the context of global QCD analyses based on realistic pseudodata and in the light of the most recent data obtained from polarized proton-proton collisions at BNL-RHIC that have provided evidence for a significant gluon polarization in the accessible, albeit limited range of momentum fractions. We also present projections on what can be achieved on the gluon’s helicity distribution by the end of BNL-RHIC operations. All estimates of current and projected uncertainties are performed with the robust Lagrange multiplier technique.

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  • Received 24 September 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.92.094030

© 2015 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Elke C. Aschenauer*

  • Physics Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USA

Rodolfo Sassot

  • Departamento de Física and IFIBA, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria, Pabellón 1, (1428) Buenos Aires, Argentina

Marco Stratmann

  • Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 14, 72076 Tübingen, Germany

  • *elke@bnl.gov
  • sassot@df.uba.ar
  • marco.stratmann@uni-tuebingen.de

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Issue

Vol. 92, Iss. 9 — 1 November 2015

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