Probing gluon polarization with pi0's in longitudinally polarized proton collisions at the RHIC-PHENIX experiment

TL;DR

This paper measures the double helicity asymmetry in inclusive pi0 production in polarized proton collisions at RHIC, providing insights into gluon polarization within the proton.

Contribution

It presents the first measurement of double helicity asymmetry for pi0 production at RHIC, comparing results with NLO pQCD calculations to probe gluon polarization.

Findings

Asymmetry measurements are consistent with gluon polarization models.

Results support a non-zero gluon polarization contribution.

Data agree with NLO pQCD predictions.

Abstract

This report presents double helicity asymmetry in inclusive $\pi^0$ production in polarized proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy ($\sqrt{s}$) of 200 GeV. The data were collected with the PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) during the 2004 run. The data are compared to a next-to-leading order perturbative quantum chromodynamic (NLO pQCD) calculation.