Single-spin asymmetry of $J/\psi$ production in $p$$+$$p$, $p$$+$Al, and $p$$+$Au collisions with transversely polarized proton beams at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=200$ GeV

TL;DR

This study measures the single-spin asymmetries of $J/\psi$ production in polarized proton collisions with protons, aluminum, and gold nuclei at 200 GeV, revealing potential nuclear effects on gluon distributions.

Contribution

First measurement of $J/\psi$ single-spin asymmetries in $p$+A collisions at RHIC energies, providing insights into nuclear effects on gluon correlation functions.

Findings

Negative asymmetries observed in $p$+Au collisions at low $p_T$

Asymmetries in $p$+p and $p$+Al are consistent with zero

Results suggest nuclear effects influence gluon correlations

Abstract

We report the transverse single-spin asymmetries of $J/\psi$ production at forward and backward rapidity, $1.2<|y|<2.2$, as a function of $J/\psi$ transverse momentum ($p_T$) and Feynman-$x$ ($x_F$). The data analyzed were recorded by the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider in 2015 from $p$$+$$p$, $p$$+$Al, and $p$$+$Au collisions with transversely polarized proton beams at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=200$ GeV. At this collision energy, single-spin asymmetries for heavy-flavor particle production of $p$$+$$p$ collisions provide access to the spin-dependent gluon distribution and higher-twist correlation functions inside the nucleon, such as the gluon Qiu-Sterman and trigluon correlation functions. Proton+nucleus collisions offer an excellent opportunity to study nuclear effects on the correlation functions. The data indicate negative asymmetries at the two-standard-deviation level in the $p$$+$Au data for $p_T<2$ GeV/$c$ at both forward and backward rapidity, while in $p$$+$$p$ and $p$$+$Al collisions the asymmetries are consistent with zero within the range of experimental uncertainties.