Spin-Dependent DIS from Polarized $^3$He at EIC

TL;DR

This paper discusses the scientific motivation and potential experimental methods for spin-dependent deep inelastic scattering (DIS) measurements using polarized helium-3 at the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), including theoretical calculations and possible extensions to other nuclei.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of using polarized helium-3 for spin-dependent DIS measurements at EIC and explores experimental tagging techniques and theoretical calculations for such processes.

Findings

Polarized helium-3 can be used to measure neutron spin structure functions.

Tagged spectator measurements enable detailed spin-dependent DIS analysis.

Experimental studies can be conducted at RHIC before EIC implementation.

Abstract

A day-1 EIC detector should be prepared to carry out inclusive DIS measurements from electron collisions with nucleon and nuclear beams. Here I consider the scientific motivation for spin-dependent DIS measurements from a polarized $^3$He beam. Longitudinally polarized $^3$He ions can be used to measure $g^n_1(x,Q^2)$ in purely inclusive scattering. I also consider spin-dependent DIS from polarized $^3$He by tagging the spectator proton or deuteron in coincidence with the scattered electron. A calculation of high energy scattering from the polarized $^3$He nucleus in the EIC frame is motivated. Further, this type of measurement can be extended to other polarized few-body nuclei. High energy spin-dependent scattering from polarized $^3$He with tagged proton and deuteron could be studied experimentally ahead of EIC using spin-dependent proton-$^3$He scattering in RHIC, when polarized $^3$He ions become available.