Measurement of the Longitudinal Double Spin Asymmetry for Dijet Production in Polarized Proton+Proton Collisions at sqrt(s) = 510 GeV at STAR

Abstract

Understanding what contributes to the intrinsic angular momentum (spin) of the proton has been a major goal of the nuclear physics community. In the 1980s, it was discovered that quarks contribute 30% to the spin of the proton. This information led to a search to find other contributions to the spin of the proton. At STAR, the double spin asymmetry (ALL) is measured as it is sensitive to the polarized gluon distribution (Dg(x)). The STAR 2009 inclusive jet ALL at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV has been incorporated into two independent global fits. These fits show for the first time a statistically significant non-zero gluon contribution to the spin of the proton in the parton momentum fraction range x > 0.05. Dijet ALL is also measured at STAR. Dijets are advantageous since the parton momentum fraction (x) of the initial partons may be reconstructed to first order from final state measurements. In 2013 STAR collected an estimated 250 pb-1 of data at sqrt(s) = 510 GeV. The higher center of mass energy will allow STAR to probe Dg(x) at x values as low as 0.02. The large statistics will allow a reduction in the uncertainties. Once the data is incorporated into future global fits, it will allow for a more precise determination of Dg(x). The 2013 dijet ALL results will be presented. The results show good agreement with both global fits and previous STAR results dijet measurements.