Semi-Inclusive $π_0$ target and beam-target asymmetries from 6 GeV electron scattering with CLAS
nucl-ex
/ Authors
S. Jawalkar, S. Koirala, H. Avakian, P. Bosted, K. A. Griffioen, C. Keith, S. E. Kuhn, K. P. Adhikari, S. Adhikari, D. Adikaram
and 154 more authors
Z. Akbar, M. J. Amaryan, S. Anefalos Pereira, H. Avakian, J. Ball, N. A. Baltzell, M. Battaglieri, V. Batourine, I. Bedlinskiy, A. S. Biselli, S. Boiarinov, W. J. Briscoe, J. Brock, W. K. Brooks, S. Bultmann, V. D. Burkert, Frank Thanh Cao, C. Carlin, D. S. Carman, A. Celentano, G. Charles, T. Chetry, G. Ciullo,
/ Abstract
We present precision measurements of the target and beam-target spin asymmetries from neutral pion electroproduction in deep-inelastic scattering (DIS) using the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) at Jefferson Lab. We scattered 6-GeV, longitudinally polarized electrons off longitudinally polarized protons in a cryogenic $^{14}$NH$_3$ target, and extracted double and single target spin asymmetries for $ep\rightarrow e^\primeπ^0X$ in multidimensional bins in four-momentum transfer ($1.0<Q^2<3.2$ GeV$^2$), Bjorken-$x$ ($0.12<x<0.48$), hadron energy fraction ($0.4<z<0.7$), transverse pion momentum ($0<P_T<1.0$ GeV), and azimuthal angle $φ_h$ between the lepton scattering and hadron production planes. We extracted asymmetries as a function of both $x$ and $P_T$, which provide access to transverse-momentum distributions of longitudinally polarized quarks. The double spin asymmetries depend weakly on $P_T$. The $\sin 2φ_h$ moments are zero within uncertainties, which is consistent with the expected suppression of the Collins fragmentation function. The observed $\sinφ_h$ moments suggest that quark gluon correlations are significant at large $x$.