Speaker
Dr
Murad Sarsour
(Georgia State University)
Description
A major emphasis of the RHIC spin program at BNL is to understand the gluon spin contribution, Delta G, to the spin of the proton. The PHENIX experiment at RHIC probes Delta G, utilizing its highly segmented calorimeter, by measuring the double longitudinal spin asymmetry , A_LL, in the production of inclusive channels like pi0 and eta. pi0 data from runs 2005 and 2006 were included in a recent NLO global analysis [1], DSSV, and set substantial new constraints on the polarized gluon distribution in the proton over the kinematic range 0.05 < x < 0.2. With improved luminosity and polarization, the figure of merit for the 2009 data set was a factor of 1.5 better that the previous runs combined. We present the 2009 results for pi0 and eta A_LL, along with a discussion of the results from inclusion of these data in a recent update of the DSSV global analysis.
1: D. de Florian, R. Sassot, M. Stratmann, W. Vogelsang (DSSV), Phys.Rev.Lett. 101, 072001 (2008).
Author
Dr
Murad Sarsour
(Georgia State University)
