Understanding the composition of nucleon spin with the PHENIX detector at RHIC

Journal Article · Mon Jan 12 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Progress of Theoretical and Experimental Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1093/ptep/ptv019· OSTI ID:1191176

Deshpande, Abhay ^[1]

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1. Stony Brook Univ., Stony Brook, NY (United States); Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) has just finished 14 years of operation. A significant fraction of these operating years were with polarized proton collisions at 62.4, 200, and 500 GeV center of mass, investigating various aspects of nucleon spin through longitudinal and transversely polarized collisions. These data have helped to address some of the most puzzling and fundamental questions in quantum chromodynamics including: what fraction of the nucleon’s spin originates in the gluon’s helicity contribution?, how polarized are the sea quarks?, and what if any, is the evidence for transverse motion of quarks in polarized protons? These questions have been addressed by the PHENIX detector collaboration. We present in this review highlights of the PHENIX results and discuss their impact.

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Nuclear Science
• Contributing Organization: PHENIX Collaboration
• OSTI ID: 1191176
• Journal Information: Progress of Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Journal Name: Progress of Theoretical and Experimental Physics Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 2015; ISSN 2050-3911
• Publisher: Physical Society of Japan
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS