The analyzing power in inclusive charged pion production has been measured using the 200 GeV Fermilab polarized proton beam. A striking dependence in x F is observed in which A N increases from 0 to 0.42 with increasing x F for the π + data and decreases from 0 to −0.38 with increasing x F for π − data. The kinematic range covered is 0.2⩽ x F ⩽0.9 and 0.2⩽ p T ⩽2.0 GeV / c . In a simple model our data indicate that at large x F the transverse spin of the proton is correlated with that of its quark constituents.
The NA61/SHINE experiment at the CERN SPS is performing a uniqe study of the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter by varying collision energy and nuclear mass number of colliding nuclei. In central Pb+Pb collisions the NA49 experiment found structures in the energy dependence of several observables in the CERN SPS energy range that had been predicted for the transition to a deconfined phase. New measurements of NA61/SHINE find intriguing similarities in p+p interactions for which no deconfinement transition is expected at SPS energies. Possible implications will be discussed.
Forum