An Introduction to the Evaluation of Spin Structure Functions from Experimental Data

These lectures introduce the non-specialist to the evaluation of spin structure functions from asymmetries measured in polarized deep-inelastic scattering experiments. The various steps leading from apparatus dependent counting rate asymmetries to physics asymmetries are described. Special attention is given to the effects of time variation in detector acceptances, to the use of deuterium as a neutron target and to the corrections due to the presence of unpolarized material in a polarized target. These topics are illustrated by examples taken from the CERN muon experiments. Lectures given at the 10th ”S´eminaire Rhodanien de Physique” held at the Villa Gualino, Torino, March 4-8, 2002.