The Hermes experiment has investigated the tensor spin structure of the deuteron using the 27.6 GeV/c positron beam of DESY HERA. The use of a tensor-polarized deuteron gas target with only a ...negligible residual vector polarization enabled the first measurement of the tensor asymmetry A(d)zz and the tensor structure function b(d)1 for average values of the Bjorken variable 0.01< <0.45 and of the negative of the squared four-momentum transfer 0.5 GeV2 < <5 GeV2. The quantities A(d)zz and b(d)1 are found to be nonzero. The rise of b(d)1 for decreasing values of x can be interpreted to originate from the same mechanism that leads to nuclear shadowing in unpolarized scattering.
The HERMES hydrogen and deuterium nuclear-polarized gas targets have been in use since 1996 with the polarized electron beam of HERA at DESY to study the spin structure of the nucleon. Polarized ...atoms from a Stern–Gerlach Atomic Beam Source are injected into a storage cell internal to the HERA electron ring. Atoms diffusing from the center of the storage cell into a side tube are analyzed to determine the atomic fraction and the atomic polarizations. The atoms have a nuclear polarization, the axis of which is defined by an external magnetic holding field. The holding field was longitudinal during 1996–2000, and was changed to transverse in 2001. The design of the target is described, the method for analyzing the target polarization is outlined, and the performance of the target in the various running periods is presented.
The Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn (GDH) sum rule connects the anomalous contribution to the magnetic moment of the target nucleus with an energy-weighted integral of the difference of the helicity-dependent ...photoabsorption cross sections. Originally conceived for real photons, the GDH integral can be generalised to the case of photons with virtuality Q2. For spin-1/2 targets such as the nucleon, it then represents the non-perturbative limit of the first moment \(\Gamma_1\) of the spin structure function g1(x,Q2) in deep inelastic scattering (DIS). The data collected by HERMES with a deuterium target are presented together with a re-analysis of previous measurements on the proton. This provides an unprecedented and complete measurement of the generalised GDH integral for photon-virtuality ranging over 1.2<Q2<12.0 GeV2 and for photon-nucleon invariant mass squared W2 ranging over 1<W2<45 GeV2, thus covering simultaneously the nucleon-resonance and the deep inelastic scattering regions. These data allow the study of the Q2-dependence of the full GDH integral, which is sensitive to both the Q2-evolution of the resonance form factors and contributions of higher twist. The contribution of the nucleon-resonance region is seen to decrease rapidly with increasing Q2. The DIS contribution is sizeable over the full measured range, even down to the lowest measured Q2. As expected, at higher Q2 the data are found to be in agreement with previous measurements of the first moment of g1. From data on the deuteron and proton, the GDH integral for the neutron has been derived and the proton-neutron difference evaluated. This difference is found to satisfy the fundamental Bjorken sum rule at Q2 = 5 GeV2.
Hard exclusive electroproduction of π+π− pairs off hydrogen and deuterium targets has been studied by the HERMES experiment at DESY. Legendre moments 〈P1〉 and 〈P3〉 of the angular distributions of π+ ...mesons in the center-of-mass frame of the pair have been measured for the first time. Their dependence on the π+π− invariant mass can be understood as being due to the interference between relative P-wave (isovector) and S-, D-wave (isoscalar) states of the two pions. The increase in magnitude of 〈P1〉 as Bjorken x increases is interpreted in the framework of generalized parton distributions as an enhancement of flavour non-singlet qq¯ exchange for larger values of x, which leads to a sizable admixture of isoscalar and isovector pion pairs. In addition, the interference between P-wave and D-wave states separately for transverse and longitudinal pion pairs has been studied. The data indicate that in the f2(1270) region at 〈Q2〉=3 GeV2 higher-twist effects can be as large as the leading-twist longitudinal component.
Single-spin asymmetries for semi-inclusive electroproduction of charged pions in deep-inelastic scattering of positrons are measured for the first time with transverse target polarization. The ...asymmetry depends on the azimuthal angles of both the pion (phi) and the target spin axis (phi(S)) about the virtual-photon direction and relative to the lepton scattering plane. The extracted Fourier component sin((phi+phi(S))(pi)(UT) is a signal of the previously unmeasured quark transversity distribution, in conjunction with the Collins fragmentation function, also unknown. The component sin((phi-phi(S)(pi)(UT) arises from a correlation between the transverse polarization of the target nucleon and the intrinsic transverse momentum of quarks, as represented by the previously unmeasured Sivers distribution function. Evidence for both signals is observed, but the Sivers asymmetry may be affected by exclusive vector meson production.
Measurements of the individual multiplicities of \(\pi^+, \pi^-\) and \(\pi^0\) produced in the deep-inelastic scattering of 27.5 GeV positrons on hydrogen are presented. The average charged pion ...multiplicity is the same as for neutral pions, up to \(z \approx 0.7\), where z is the fraction of the energy transferred in the scattering process carried by the pion. This result (below \(z \approx 0.7\)) is consistent with isospin invariance. The total energy fraction associated with charged and neutral pions is \(\rm 0.51 \pm 0.01 (stat.) \pm 0.08\) (syst.) and \(\rm 0.26 \pm 0.01 (stat.) \pm 0.04 (syst.)\), respectively. For fixed z, the measured multiplicities depend on both the negative squared four momentum transfer \(Q^2\) and the Bjorken variable x. The observed dependence on \(Q^2\) agrees qualitatively with the expected behaviour based on NLO-QCD evolution, while the dependence on x is consistent with that of previous data after corrections have been made for the expected \(Q^2\)-dependence.
Evidence for a narrow baryon state is found in quasi-real photoproduction on a deuterium target through the decay channel pK0S→pπ+π−. A peak is observed in the pK0S invariant mass spectrum at ...1528±2.6(stat)±2.1(syst) MeV. Depending on the background model, the naive statistical significance of the peak is 4–6 standard deviations and its width may be somewhat larger than the experimental resolution of σ=4.3–6.2 MeV. This state may be interpreted as the predicted S=+1 exotic Θ+(uudds̄) pentaquark baryon. No signal for an hypothetical Θ++ baryon was observed in the pK+ invariant mass distribution. The absence of such a signal indicates that an isotensor Θ is excluded and an isovector Θ is unlikely.
A measurement of the proton spin structure function g1p(x,Q{sup 2}) in deep-inelastic scattering is presented. The data were taken with the 27.6 GeV longitudinally polarised positron beam at HERA ...incident on a longitudinally polarised pure hydrogen gas target internal to the storage ring. The kinematic range is 0.021<x<0.85 and 0.8 GeV{sup 2}<Q{sup 2}<20 GeV{sup 2}.
PDF
