Cross Sections and Transverse Single-Spin Asymmetries in Forward Jet Production from Proton Collisions at $\sqrt{s}=500$ GeV

TL;DR

This paper reports measurements of forward jet production in polarized proton collisions at 500 GeV, showing results consistent with hard scattering and providing constraints on the Sivers functions related to partonic orbital angular momentum.

Contribution

It presents the first measurements of forward jet cross sections and analyzing powers at RHIC energies, offering new data to constrain spin-momentum correlations.

Findings

Jet cross section aligns with hard scattering models.

Analyzing power is small and positive.

Results constrain Sivers functions and partonic orbital angular momentum.

Abstract

Measurements of the production of forward jets from transversely polarized proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=500$ GeV conducted at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) are reported. Our measured jet cross section is consistent with hard scattering expectations. Our measured analyzing power for forward jet production is small and positive, and provides constraints on the Sivers functions that are related to partonic orbital angular momentum through theoretical models.