Measurement of the double longitudinal spin asymmetry in inclusive jet production in polarized p+p collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV

TL;DR

This study measures the double longitudinal spin asymmetry in inclusive jet production in polarized proton-proton collisions at 200 GeV, providing insights into gluon polarization within the nucleon.

Contribution

First measurement of A_LL in inclusive jet production at RHIC, offering experimental data to constrain gluon polarization models.

Findings

Data are consistent with existing gluon polarization models.

Results disfavor large positive gluon polarization values.

Measurements cover jet transverse energies of 5-17 GeV/c.

Abstract

We present preliminary results for the first measurements of the double longitudinal spin asymmetry A_LL in inclusive jet production at mid-rapidity in polarized proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV. The data amount to ~ 0.5 pb-1 collected at RHIC in 2003 and 2004 with beam polarizations up to 45%. The jet transverse energies are in the range of 5 < pT < 17 GeV/c. The data are consistent with theoretical evaluations using deep-inelastic scattering parametrizations for gluon polarization in the nucleon, and tend to disfavor large positive values of gluon polarization.