Title: Exploring the Gluon Spin Structure of the Proton using the STAR Detector at RHIC

Speaker: Grant Webb (BNL)

Abstract:

After 20 years of experimental efforts the individual parton (quarks and gluons) con- tributions to the spin of the nucleon has not been solved. Precise measurements in po- larized deep inelastic scattering clearly indicate that the spin of the nucleon cannot be explained by the contribution of the quarks alone. The polarized proton-proton collider at RHIC provides direct access to the gluon spin distribution through longitudinal double spin asymmetry measurements of inclusive jets, pions, and dijets. The STAR detector, with its full azimuthal coverage, grants excellent jet reconstruction capabilities. This presentation will focus on the methods used to determine the polarization of the proton beams required to extract any spin dependent result. In addition, the jet reconstruction process and the recent spin results from STAR will be discussed and the impact they have on constraining the gluon spin contribution to the proton’s spin.