Spin Results From the PHENIX Detector at RHIC

TL;DR

This paper reports on measurements of spin-dependent phenomena in polarized proton collisions at RHIC, providing data crucial for understanding the proton's spin structure and the role of gluons and quarks.

Contribution

It presents new experimental results from the PHENIX detector at RHIC that enhance understanding of proton spin structure through polarized collision data.

Findings

Data on polarized gluon and anti-quark distributions

Results from collisions at 200 GeV and 62.4 GeV

Insights into proton spin contributions

Abstract

The polarized proton beams at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory provide a unique environment to observe hard scattering between gluons and quarks. The PHENIX experiment has recorded collisions at $\sqrt(s_{NN})=$200 GeV and 62.4 GeV to yield data which are complementary to those measured by deep inelastic scattering experiments. Polarized proton-proton collisions can directly probe the polarized gluon and anti-quark distributions as the collisions couple the color charges of the participants. The PHENIX detector is well suited to measure many final-state particles sensitive to the proton's spin structure. We will give a brief overview of the PHENIX Spin Program and we will report results, status and outlook of the many probes accessible to the PHENIX experiment which will be incorporated into future global analyses of world data on polarized hard scattering.