The transversely polarized target (PT) of the COMPASS (NA58) collaboration at CERN has been used for Drell–Yan measurements in 2015 and 2018. The transverse spin structure of the proton has been ...studied using a negative pion beam and a solid ammonia target. Employing the dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) method, proton polarization values of more than 80% have been routinely achieved after one day, at a homogeneous magnetic field of 2.5 T and using a 3He/4He dilution refrigerator. During the data-taking the target operates in a transversely oriented magnetic dipole field at 0.6 T. This so-called frozen spin operation mode without the DNP pumping process leads to a slow depolarization of the target material, which is further accelerated by the heat input of the pion beam, produced secondary particles and radiation damage effects to the target material. Ammonia has the highest resistance against radiation-induced depolarization among known solid target materials. The proton polarization has been measured by the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Relaxation times of about 1100 h have been observed for the proton polarization resulting in an average polarization between 68% and 76% during about two weeks long data-taking periods. To achieve a systematic uncertainty of the polarization ΔP/P as low as 3.2% and a statistical one of less than 1.8% two large target cells with appropriate positioning of the NMR-coils have been built.
The spin structure of the nucleon has been extensively studied using deep inelastic polarized electron and muon scattering on polarized targets at CERN, DESY and SLAC. The data agree with the Bjorken ...Sum Rule, a fundamental prediction of QCD. A small fraction, about 20%, of the nucleon spin seem to be carried by the quarks. However, this conclusion, may result from neglecting the contribution of the gluon spins. Future experiments will try to measure the unknown gluon polarization. The COMPASS project at CERN is discussed.
We have performed the most comprehensive resonance-model fit of π−π−π+ states using the results of our previously published partial-wave analysis (PWA) of a large data set of diffractive-dissociation ...events from the reaction π−+p→π−π−π++precoil with a 190 GeV/c pion beam. The PWA results, which were obtained in 100 bins of three-pion mass, 0.5<m3π<2.5 GeV/c2, and simultaneously in 11 bins of the reduced four-momentum transfer squared, 0.1<t′<1.0 (GeV/c)2, are subjected to a resonance-model fit using Breit-Wigner amplitudes to simultaneously describe a subset of 14 selected waves using 11 isovector light-meson states with JPC=0−+, 1++, 2++, 2−+, 4++, and spin-exotic 1−+ quantum numbers. The model contains the well-known resonances π(1800), a1(1260), a2(1320), π2(1670), π2(1880), and a4(2040). In addition, it includes the disputed π1(1600), the excited states a1(1640), a2(1700), and π2(2005), as well as the resonancelike a1(1420). We measure the resonance parameters mass and width of these objects by combining the information from the PWA results obtained in the 11 t′ bins. We extract the relative branching fractions of the ρ(770)π and f2(1270)π decays of a2(1320) and a4(2040), where the former one is measured for the first time. In a novel approach, we extract the t′ dependence of the intensity of the resonances and of their phases. The t′ dependence of the intensities of most resonances differs distinctly from the t′ dependence of the nonresonant components. For the first time, we determine the t′ dependence of the phases of the production amplitudes and confirm that the production mechanism of the Pomeron exchange is common to all resonances. We have performed extensive systematic studies on the model dependence and correlations of the measured physical parameters.
The COMPASS Collaboration experiment recently discovered a new isovector resonancelike signal with axial-vector quantum numbers, the a1( 1420 ) , decaying to f0( 980 ) π . With a mass too close to ...and a width smaller than the axial-vector ground state a1( 1260 ) , it was immediately interpreted as a new light exotic meson, similar to the X , Y , Z states in the hidden-charm sector. We show that a resonancelike signal fully matching the experimental data is produced by the decay of the a1( 1260 ) resonance into K∗( → K π ) ¯ K and subsequent rescattering through a triangle singularity into the coupled f0( 980 ) π channel. The amplitude for this process is calculated using a new approach based on dispersion relations. The triangle-singularity model is fitted to the partial-wave data of the COMPASS experiment. Despite having fewer parameters, this fit shows a slightly better quality than the one using a resonance hypothesis and thus eliminates the need for an additional resonance in order to describe the data. We thereby demonstrate for the first time in the light-meson sector that a resonancelike structure in the experimental data can be described by rescattering through a triangle singularity, providing evidence for a genuine three-body effect.
New results for the double spin asymmetry A(1)(p) and the proton longitudinal spin structure function g(1)(p) are presented. They were obtained by the COMPASS Collaboration using polarised 200 GeV ...muons scattered off a longitudinally polarised NH3 target. The data were collected in 2011 and complement those recorded in 2007 at 160 GeV, in particular at lower values of x. They improve the statistical precision of g(1)(p)(x) by about a factor of two in the region x less than or similar to 0.02. A next-to-leading order QCD fit to the g(1) world data is performed. It leads to a new determination of the quark spin contribution to the nucleon spin, Delta Sigma, ranging from 0.26 to 0.36, and to a re-evaluation of the first moment of g(1)(p). The uncertainty of Delta Sigma is mostly due to the large uncertainty in the present determinations of the gluon helicity distribution. A new evaluation of the Bjorken sum rule based on the COMPASS results for the non-singlet structure function g(1)(NS) (x, Q(2)) yields as ratio of the axial and vector coupling constants vertical bar gA/gV vertical bar = 1.22 +/- 0.05 (stat.) +/- 0.10 (syst.), which validates the sum rule to an accuracy of about 9%.
The COMPASS Collaboration at CERN has measured the transverse spin azimuthal asymmetry of charged hadrons produced in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering using a 160 GeV mu + beam and a ...transversely polarised NH3 target. The Sivers asymmetry of the proton has been extracted in the Bjorken x range 0.003 0.03 . The asymmetry is different from zero and positive also in the low x region, where sea-quarks dominate. The kinematic dependence of the asymmetry has also been investigated and results are given for various intervals of hadron and virtual photon fractional energy. In contrast to the case of the Collins asymmetry, the results on the Sivers asymmetry suggest a strong dependence on the four-momentum transfer to the nucleon, in agreement with the most recent calculations.
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