Analysis of the double-spin asymmetry A<inf>LT</inf> in inelastic nucleon-nucleon collisions

Abstract

Within the collinear twist-3 framework, we analyze the double-spin asymmetry in collisions between longitudinally polarized nucleons and transversely polarized nucleons with focus on hadron and jet production. As was the case in direct photon production, the double-spin dependent cross section for hadron and jet production has the advantage of involving a complete set of collinear twist-3 functions for a transversely polarized nucleon. In addition, we outline further benefits of this observable for a potential future measurement at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, which includes insight on the gluon helicity distribution as well as information on the Efremov-Teryaev-Qiu-Sterman function TF(x,x) that plays a crucial role in single-spin asymmetries. © 2012 American Physical Society.