Precision Measurement of the Beam-Normal Single-Spin Asymmetry in Forward-Angle Elastic Electron-Proton Scattering
nucl-ex
/ Authors
QWeak collaboration, D. Androic, D. S. Armstrong, A. Asaturyan, K. Bartlett, J. Beaufait, R. S. Beminiwattha, J. Benesch, F. Benmokhtar, J. Birchall
and 85 more authors
R. D. Carlini, J. C. Cornejo, S. Covrig Dusa, M. M. Dalton, C. A. Davis, W. Deconinck, J. F. Dowd, J. A. Dunne, D. Dutta, W. S. Duvall, M. Elaasar, W. R. Falk, J. M. Finn, T. Forest, C. Gal, D. Gaskell, M. T. W. Gericke, J. Grames, V. M. Gray, K. Grimm, F. Guo, J. R. Hoskins, D. Jones, M. K. Jones
/ Abstract
A beam-normal single-spin asymmetry generated in the scattering of transversely polarized electrons from unpolarized nucleons is an observable related to the imaginary part of the two-photon exchange process. We report a 2% precision measurement of the beam-normal single-spin asymmetry in elastic electron-proton scattering with a mean scattering angle of theta_lab = 7.9 degrees and a mean energy of 1.149 GeV. The asymmetry result is B_n = -5.194 +- 0.067 (stat) +- 0.082 (syst) ppm. This is the most precise measurement of this quantity available to date and therefore provides a stringent test of two-photon exchange models at far-forward scattering angles (theta_lab -> 0) where they should be most reliable.