Measurement of the Neutron Spin Structure Function g2n and Asymmetry A2n

K. Abe

doi:10.1016/S0370-2693(97)00613-8

paper

Measurement of the Neutron Spin Structure Function g2n and Asymmetry A2n

arXiv:hep-ex/9705017 · doi:10.1016/S0370-2693(97)00613-8

Abstract

We have measured the neutron structure function g $_{2}^{n}$ and the virtual photon-nucleon asymmetry A $_{2}^{n}$ over the kinematic range $0.014 \leq x \leq 0.7$ and $1.0 \leq Q^{2} \leq 17.0$ by scattering 48.3 GeV longitudinally polarized electrons from polarized $^{3}$ He. Results for A $_{2}^{n}$ are significantly smaller than the $R$ positivity limit over most of the measured range and data for g $_{2}^{n}$ are generally consistent with the twist-2 Wandzura-Wilczek prediction. Using our measured g $_{2}^{n}$ we obtain results for the twist-3 reduced matrix element $d_{2}^{n}$ , and the integral $\int$ g $_{2}^{n} (x) d x$ in the range $0.014 \leq x \leq 1.0$ . Data from this experiment are combined with existing data for g $_{2}^{n}$ to obtain an average for $d_{2}^{n}$ and the integral $\int$ g $_{2}^{n} (x) d x$ .

10 pages, 3 figures. To be published in Physics Letters B