The inclusive double-spin asymmetry, $A^p_1$, has been measured at COMPASS in deepinelastic polarised muon scattering off a large polarised NH3 target. The data, collected in the year 2007, cover the range $Q^2 > 1 (GeV/c)^2, 0.004 < x < 0.7$ and improve the statistical precision of $g^p_1(x)$ by a factor of two in the region $x < 0.02$. The new proton asymmetries are combined with those previously published for the deuteron to extract the non-singlet spin-dependent structure function $g^{NS}_1(x,Q^2)$. The isovector quark density, $\Delta_{q3}(x,Q^2)$, is evaluated from a NLO QCD fit of $g^{NS}_1$. The first moment of $\Delta_{q3}$ is in good agreement with the value predicted by the Bjorken sum rule and corresponds to a ratio of the axial and vector coupling constants $|g_A/g_V$ = $1.28\pm 0.07(stat)\pm 0.10$(syst).

Final results are presented from the inclusive measurement of deep-inelastic polarised-muon scattering on longitudinally polarised deuterons using a $^6$LiD target. The data were taken at $160~{\rm GeV}$ beam energy and the results are shown for the kinematic range $1~({\rm GeV}/c)^2 < Q^2 < 100~({\rm GeV}/c)^2$ in photon virtuality, $0.004<x<0.7$ in the Bjorken scaling variable and $W > 4~{\rm GeV}/c^2$ in the mass of the hadronic final state. The deuteron double-spin asymmetry $A_1^{\rm d}$ and the deuteron longitudinal-spin structure function $g_1^{\rm d}$ are presented in bins of $x$ and $Q^2$. Towards lowest accessible values of $x$, $g_1^{\rm d}$ decreases and becomes consistent with zero within uncertainties. The presented final $g_1^{\rm d}$ values together with the recently published final $g_1^{\rm p}$ values of COMPASS are used to again evaluate the Bjorken sum rule and perform the QCD fit to the $g_1$ world data at next-to-leading order of the strong coupling constant. In both cases, changes in central values of the resulting numbers are well within statistical uncertainties. The flavour-singlet axial charge $a_0$, {which is identified in the $\overline{\rm MS}$ renormalisation scheme with the total contribution of quark helicities to the nucleon spin}, is extracted from only the COMPASS deuteron data with negligible extrapolation uncertainty: $a_0 (Q^2 = 3~({\rm GeV}/c)^2) = 0.32 \pm 0.02_{\rm stat} \pm0.04_{\rm syst} \pm 0.05_{\rm evol}$. Together with the recent results on the proton spin structure function $g_1^{\rm p}$, the results on $g_1^{\rm d}$ constitute the COMPASS legacy on the measurements of $g_1$ through inclusive spin-dependent deep inelastic scattering.

New results for the double spin asymmetry $A_1^{\rm p}$ and the proton longitudinal spin structure function $g_1^{\rm p}$ are presented. They were obtained by the COMPASS collaboration using polarised 200 GeV muons scattered off a longitudinally polarised NH$_3$ target. The data were collected in 2011 and complement those recorded in 2007 at 160\,GeV, in particular at lower values of $x$. They improve the statistical precision of $g_1^{\rm p}(x)$ by about a factor of two in the region $x\lesssim 0.02$. A next-to-leading order QCD fit to the $g_1$ world data is performed. It leads to a new determination of the quark spin contribution to the nucleon spin, $\Delta \Sigma$ ranging from 0.26 to 0.36, and to a re-evaluation of the first moment of $g_1^{\rm p}$. The uncertainty of $\Delta \Sigma$ is mostly due to the large uncertainty in the present determinations of the gluon helicity distribution. A new evaluation of the Bjorken sum rule based on the COMPASS results for the non-singlet structure function $g_1^{\rm NS}(x,Q^2)$ yields as ratio of the axial and vector coupling constants $|g_{\rm A}/g_{\rm V}| = 1.22 \pm 0.05~({\rm stat.}) \pm 0.10~({\rm syst.})$, which validates the sum rule to an accuracy of about 9\%.

We present a new measurement of the virtual photon proton asymmetry A 1 p from deep inelastic scattering of polarized muons on polarized protons in the kinematic range 0.0008 < x < 0.7 and 0.2 < Q 2 < 100 GeV 2 . With this, the statistical uncertainty of our measurement has improved by a factor of 2 compared to our previous measurements. The spin-dependent structure function g 1 p is determined for the data with Q 2 > 1 GeV 2 . A perturbative QCD evolution in next-to-leading order is used to determine g 1 p ( x ) at a constant Q 2 . At Q 2 = 10 GeV 2 we find, in the measured range, ∫ 0.003 0.7 g 1 P (x) d x=0.139±0.006 ( stat ) ±0.008 ( syst ) ±0.006( evol ) . The value of the first moment Г 1 P = ∫ 0 1 g 1 p (x) d x of g 1 p depends on the approach used to describe the behaviour of g 1 p at low x . We find that the Ellis-Jaffe sum rule is violated. With our published result for Γ 1 d we confirm the Bjorken sum rule with an accuracy of ≈ 15% at the one standard deviation level.

We present a new measurement of the spin-dependent structure function g 1 d of the deuteron from deep inelastic scattering of 190 GeV polarized muons on polarized deuterons. The results are combined with our previous measurements of g 1 d . A perturbative QCD evolution in next-to-leading order is used to compute g 1 d ( x ) at a constant Q 2 . At Q 2 = 10 GeV 2 , we obtain a first moment Γ 1 d =∫ 1 d g 1 d d x =0.041±0.008, a flavour-singlet axial charge of the nucleon a 0 = 0.30 ± 0.08, and an axial charge of the strange quark a s = −0.09 ± 0.03. Using our earlier determination of Γ 1 p , we obtain Γ 1 p − Γ 1 m = 0.183 ± 0.035 at Q 2 = 10GeV 2 . This result is in agreement with the Bjorken sum rule which predicts Γ 1 p − Γ 1 n = 0.186 ± 0.002 at the same Q 2 .

We have measured the spin-dependent structure function $g_1~p$ in inclusive deep-inelastic scattering of polarized muons off polarized protons, in the kinematic range $0.003 < x < 0.7$ and $1 GeV~2 < Q~2 < 60 GeV~2$. A next-to-leading order QCD analysis is used to evolve the measured $g_1~p(x,Q~2)$ to a fixed $Q~2_0$. The first moment of $g_1~p$ at $Q~2_0 = 10 GeV~2$ is $\Gamma~p = 0.136\pm 0.013(stat.) \pm 0.009(syst.)\pm 0.005(evol.)$. This result is below the prediction of the Ellis-Jaffe sum rule by more than two standard deviations. The singlet axial charge $a_0$ is found to be $0.28 \pm 0.16$. In the Adler-Bardeen factorization scheme, $\Delta g \simeq 2$ is required to bring $\Delta \Sigma$ in agreement with the Quark-Parton Model. A combined analysis of all available proton and deuteron data confirms the Bjorken sum rule.

We measured the spin asymmetry in the scattering of 100 GeV longitudinally-polarized muons on transversely polarized protons. The asymmetry was found to be compatible with zero in the kinematic range $0.006<x<0.6$, $1<Q~2<30\,\mbox{GeV}~2$. {}From this result we derive the upper limits for the virtual photon--proton asymmetry $A_2$, and for the spin structure function $g_2$. For $x<0.15$, $A_2$ is significantly smaller than its positivity limit $\sqrt{R}$.

: We have measured the spin-dependent structure function $g_1~p$ of the proton in deep inelastic scattering of polarized muons off polarized protons, in the kinematic range $0.003<x<0.7$ and $1\,\mbox{GeV}~2<Q~2<60\,\mbox{GeV}~2$. Its first moment, $\int_0~1 g_1~p(x) dx $, is found to be $0.136 \pm 0.011\,(\mbox{stat.})\pm 0.011\,(\mbox{syst.})$ at $Q~2=10\,\mbox{GeV}~2$. This value is smaller than the prediction of the Ellis--Jaffe sum rule by two standard deviations, and is consistent with previous measurements. A combined analysis of all available proton, deuteron and neutron data confirms the Bjorken sum rule to within $10\%$ of the theoretical value.

The spin asymmetry in deep inelastic scattering of longitudinally polarised muons by longitudinally polarised protons has been measured over a large x range (0.01< x <0.7). The spin-dependent structure function g 1 ( x ) for the proton has been determined and its integral over x found to be 0.114±0.012±0.026, in disagreement with the Ellis-Jaffe sum rule. Assuming the validity of the Bjorken sum rule, this result implies a significant negative value for the integral of g 1 for the neutron. These values for the integrals of g 1 lead to the conclusion that the total quark spin constitutes a rather small fraction of the spin of the nucleon.