Neutral Pion Double Helicity Asymmetry in Polarized Proton-Proton Collisions at [the Square Root of Sigma]
Author | : William Axel Leight |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 112 |
Release | : 2012 |
ISBN-10 | : OCLC:824957423 |
ISBN-13 | : |
Rating | : 4/5 ( Downloads) |
Download or read book Neutral Pion Double Helicity Asymmetry in Polarized Proton-Proton Collisions at [the Square Root of Sigma] written by William Axel Leight and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the primary goals of the spin physics program at the STAR experiment is to constrain the polarized gluon distribution function, [delta]g(X,Q2), by measuring the double longitudinal spin asymmetry, ALL, of various final-state channels. Neutral pions provide a potentially powerful final state because they are copiously produced in p+p collisions and have few backgrounds. In 2009, STAR took 14 pb-1 of integrated luminosity of 200 GeV p+p collisions, with average beam longitudinal polarization of 59%. Neutral pions produced in these collisions can be identified using STAR's large-acceptance electromagnetic calorimeter, with help from tracking from the STAR Time Projection Chamber. This work presents a measurement of the inclusive neutral pion ALL from this data, based on a new [pi]0 reconstruction algorithm. A comparison to theoretical predictions and other experimental results suggests that the current best-fit value of AG, the gluon contribution to the proton spin, is too small and that [delta]G is actually comparable in magnitude to the quark contribution to the proton spin [delta][sigma].