A leading-twist beam-spin asymmetry in double-hadron inclusive lepto-production

TL;DR

This paper predicts a new leading-twist beam-spin asymmetry in double-hadron production during deep inelastic scattering, arising from quark transverse momentum correlations, with potential experimental observability.

Contribution

It introduces a novel leading-twist asymmetry in lepto-production involving target and current fragmentation regions, highlighting the role of transverse momentum correlations.

Findings

Identification of a new beam-spin asymmetry in lepto-production

Asymmetry arises from quark transverse momentum and hadron emission correlations

Potential experimental signatures discussed

Abstract

We show that a new beam-spin asymmetry appears in deep inelastic inclusive lepto-production at low transverse momenta when a hadron in the target fragmentation region is observed in association with another hadron in the current fragmentation region. The beam leptons are longitudinally polarized while the target nucleons are unpolarized. This asymmetry is a leading-twist effect generated by the correlation between the transverse momentum of quarks and the transverse momentum of the hadron emitted by the target. Experimental signatures of this effect are discussed.