Polarized proton-proton collisions provide leading-order access to gluons, presenting an opportunity to constrain gluon spin-momentum correlations within transversely polarized protons and enhance our understanding of the three-dimensional structure of the proton. Midrapidity open-heavy-flavor production at $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV is dominated by gluon-gluon fusion, providing heightened sensitivity to gluon dynamics relative to other production channels. Transverse single-spin asymmetries of positrons and electrons from heavy-flavor hadron decays are measured at midrapidity using the PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. These charge-separated measurements are sensitive to gluon correlators that can in principle be related to gluon orbital angular momentum via model calculations. Explicit constraints on gluon correlators are extracted for two separate models, one of which had not been constrained previously.
Data from Figure 1 of open heavy flavor $e^{\pm}$ transverse single-spin asymmetries in transversely polarized p+p collisions as a function of $p_{T}$.
Presented are the first measurements of the transverse single-spin asymmetries ($A_N$) for neutral pions and eta mesons in $p$+Au and $p$+Al collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=200$ GeV in the pseudorapidity range $|\eta|<$0.35 with the PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The asymmetries are consistent with zero, similar to those for midrapidity neutral pions and eta mesons produced in $p$+$p$ collisions. These measurements show no evidence of additional effects that could potentially arise from the more complex partonic environment present in proton-nucleus collisions.
Data from Figure 2 (a) of the $\pi^{0}$ transverse single-spin asymmetry in $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV $p^{\uparrow}+$Au and $p^{\uparrow}+$Al collisions as a function of $p_{T}$.
Data from Figure 2 (b) of the $\eta$ transverse single-spin asymmetry in $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV $p^{\uparrow}+$Au and $p^{\uparrow}+$Al collisions as a function of $p_{T}$.
In 2015, the PHENIX collaboration has measured very forward ($\eta>6.8$) single-spin asymmetries of inclusive neutrons in transversely polarized proton-proton and proton-nucleus collisions at a center of mass energy of 200 GeV. A previous publication from this data set concentrated on the nuclear dependence of such asymmetries. In this measurement the explicit transverse-momentum dependence of inclusive neutron single spin asymmetries for proton-proton collisions is extracted using a bootstrapping-unfolding technique on the transverse momenta. This explicit transverse-momentum dependence will help improve the understanding of the mechanisms that create these asymmetries.
Measured and unfolded forward neutron single spin asymmetries using 3rd order polynomial parameterization in unfolding
Measured and unfolded forward neutron single spin asymmetries using a Power law parameterization in unfolding
Measured and unfolded forward neutron single spin asymmetries using an exponential parameterization in unfolding
In 2015, the PHENIX collaboration has measured single-spin asymmetries for charged pions in transversely polarized proton-proton collisions at the center of mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV. The pions were detected at central rapidities of $|\eta|<0.35$. The single-spin asymmetries are consistent with zero for each charge individually, as well as consistent with the previously published neutral-pion asymmetries in the same rapidity range. However, they show a slight indication of charge-dependent differences which may suggest a flavor dependence in the underlying mechanisms that create these asymmetries.
Measured charged pion single spin asymmetries in p+p collisions as a function of pT
In 2015 the PHENIX collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider recorded $p+p$, $p+$Al, and $p+$Au collision data at center of mass energies of $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=200$ GeV with the proton beam(s) transversely polarized. At very forward rapidities $\eta>6.8$ relative to the polarized proton beam, neutrons were detected either inclusively or in (anti)correlation with detector activity related to hard collisions. The resulting single spin asymmetries, that were previously reported, have now been extracted as a function of the transverse momentum of the neutron as well as its longitudinal momentum fraction $x_F$. The explicit kinematic dependence, combined with the correlation information allows for a closer look at the interplay of different mechanisms suggested to describe these asymmetries, such as hadronic interactions or electromagnetic interactions in ultra-peripheral collisions, UPC. Events that are correlated with a hard collision indeed display a mostly negative asymmetry that increases in magnitude as a function of transverse momentum with only little dependence on $x_F$. In contrast, events that are not likely to have emerged from a hard collision display positive asymmetries for the nuclear collisions with a kinematic dependence that resembles that of a UPC based model. Because the UPC interaction depends strongly on the charge of the nucleus, those effects are very small for $p+p$ collisions, moderate for $p+$Al collisions, and large for $p+$Au collisions.
Measured forward neutron single spin asymmetries in p+p collisions as a function of pT in bins of xF
Measured forward neutron single spin asymmetries in p+Al collisions as a function of pT in bins of xF
Measured forward neutron single spin asymmetries in p+Au collisions as a function of pT in bins of xF
We present the first measurement of the electron angular distribution parameter alpha_2 in W to e nu events produced in proton-antiproton collisions as a function of the W boson transverse momentum. Our analysis is based on data collected using the D0 detector during the 1994--1995 Fermilab Tevatron run. We compare our results with next-to-leading order perturbative QCD, which predicts an angular distribution of (1 +/- alpha_1 cos theta* + alpha_2 cos^2 theta*), where theta* is the polar angle of the electron in the Collins-Soper frame. In the presence of QCD corrections, the parameters alpha_1 and alpha_2 become functions of p_T^W, the W boson transverse momentum. This measurement provides a test of next-to-leading order QCD corrections which are a non-negligible contribution to the W boson mass measurement.
Angular distributions of the emitted charged lepton is fitted to the formula d(sig)/d(pt**2)/dy/d(cos(theta*)) = const*(1 +- alpha_1*cos(theta*) + alpha_2*(cos(theta*))**2). The angle theta* is measured in the Collins-Soper frame. alpha_1 velues are calculated based on the measured PT(W) of each event. Possible variations of alpha_1 are treated as a source of systematic uncertainty.
The forward-backward asymmetries of$$e^ + e^ - \to Z^0 \to b\bar b and e^ + e^ - \to Z^0 \to c\bar c$$
Measurement of the asymmetry in b-quark production on the Z0 peak using a two parameter fit, neglecting the effects of B0-BBAR0 mixing.
Measurement of the asymmetry in b-quark production on the Z0 peak using a two parameter fit and correcting for B0-BBAR0 mixing. The second systematic error is due to the uncertainty of the mixing factor.
Measurement of the asymmetry in c-quark production on the Z0 peak using a two parameter fit.
We have measured the properties of Z 0 → b b decays using a sample of 944 inclusive muon events, corresponding to 18 000 hadron events obtained with the L3 detector at LEP. We measured the partial decay width of the Z 0 into b b , Γ b b =353±48 MeV , and we determined the vector coupling of the Z 0 to the b quark; g rmv 2 (b)=0.095±0.047. We measured the forward-backward charge asymmetry in e + e − → b b events at √ s ≈ M v , and obtained A b b =13.3±9.9% .
BOTTOM quark charge asymmetry measurement.
The production of electrons by bottom and charm hadrons has been studied in e + e − annihilation at 34.6 GeV center of mass energy. It is observed that the b quark fragmentation function is peaked at large values of the scaling variable z with 〈 z b 〉 = 0.84 +0.15 + 0.15 −0.10 − 0.11 . For c quarks 〈 z c 〉 = 0.57 +0.10 + 0.05 −0.09 − 0.06 is observed. A forward-backward charge asymmetry of A = −0.25 ± 0.22 was measured in b production.
THE VALUE OF ASYMMETRY WAS DETERMINED USING A SAMPLE OF PROMPT ELECTRONS.
THE VALUE OF ASYMMETRY WAS DETERMINED USING A SAMPLE OF PROMPT ELECTRONS.
We present a direct measurement of the parity-violation parameter $A_c$ in the coupling of the $Z^0$ to $c$-quarks with the SLD detector. The measurement is based on a sample of 530k hadronic $Z^0$ decays, produced with a mean electron-beam polarization of $|P_e| = 73 %$. The tagging of $c$-quark events is performed using two methods: the exclusive reconstruction of $D^{\ast+}$, $D^+$, and $D^0$ mesons, and the soft-pions ($\pi_s$) produced in the decay of $D^{\ast+}\to D^0 \pi_s^+$. The large background from $D$ mesons produced in $B$ hadron decays is separated efficiently from the signal using precision vertex information. The combination of these two methods yields $A_c = 0.688 \pm 0.041.$
CONST(NAME=A_C) is connected with the forward-backward asymmetry by following way: ASYM(NAME=FB) = ABS(P_e)*CONST(NAME=A_C)*2z/(1 + z**2), where z = cos(theta), theta is the polar angle of the outgoing fermion relative to the incident electron, P_e is the longitudinal polarization of the electron beam. Two values for constant A_c were obtained using two different c-quark tagging methods: exclusive charmed-meson reconstruction (C=EXCLUSIVE) and inclusive soft-pion analysis (C=SOFT_PIONS).