Transverse single-spin asymmetry of charged hadrons at forward and backward rapidity in polarized p+p, p+Al, and p+Au collisions at sNN =200 GeV

Abstract

Reported here are transverse single-spin asymmetries (AN) in the production of charged hadrons as a function of transverse momentum (pT) and Feynman-x (xF) in polarized p↑+p, p↑+Al, and p↑+Au collisions at sNN=200 GeV. The measurements have been performed at forward and backward rapidity (1.4<|η|<2.4) over the range of 1.5 GeV/c<pT<7.0 GeV/c and 0.04<|xF|<0.2. A nonzero asymmetry is observed for positively charged hadrons at forward rapidity (xF>0) in p↑+p collisions, whereas the p↑+Al and p↑+Au results show smaller asymmetries. This finding provides new opportunities to investigate the origin of transverse single-spin asymmetries and a tool to study nuclear effects in p+A collisions. © 2023 authors. Published by the American Physical Society. Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.