Session M3: New Results on the Polarized Glue in the Nucleon

3:30 PM–5:18 PM, Sunday, April 13, 2008
Hyatt Regency St. Louis Riverfront (formerly Adam's Mark Hotel), - St. Louis E

Sponsoring Unit: DNP
Chair: Abhay Deshpande, Stony Brook University and RIKEN-BNL Research Center

Abstract: M3.00002 : Review of recent results from RHIC on the polarized gluon distribution

4:06 PM–4:42 PM

Preview Abstract

Author:

  Gerry Bunce
    (BNL and RIKEN BNL Research Center)

RHIC provides a unique laboratory to study the spin structure of the proton, using strongly interacting probes. Through remarkable control of the proton acceleration process, RHIC has achieved collisions with 55 to 60\% polarized proton beams, at root(s)=200 GeV, with high luminosity. Two experiments, PHENIX and STAR, feature measurements of inclusive production of jets, jet fragmentation products (with emphasis on pi$^0$), and direct photons, which probe the gluon polarization in the polarized protons. I will discuss how we connect the measurements to the underlying physics and the present (sensitive) and future constraints on the gluon spin contribution from RHIC.