Collins Effect from Polarized SIDIS and e+e−e^+e^- Data

The recent data on the transverse single spin asymmetry $A_{UT}^{\sin(\phi_h+\phi_S)}$ from HERMES and COMPASS Collaborations are analysed within LO parton model with unintegrated parton distribution and fragmentation functions. A fit of SIDIS data from HERMES Collaboration is performed leading to the extraction of favoured and unfavoured Collins fragmentation functions. A very good description of COMPASS data is obtained. BELLE $e^+e^-$ data are shown to be compatible with our estimates based on the extracted Collins fragmentation functions. Predictions for $A_{UT}^{\sin(\phi_h+\phi_S)}$ asymmetries at JLab and COMPASS operating on a proton target are given.Comment: Talk presented at SPIN2006, 4 pages, 6 figure

Optical radiation from the Crab pulsar

Possible mechanisms for producing the optical radiation from the Crab pulsar are proposed and discussed. There are severe difficulties in interpreting the radiation as being produced by an incoherent process, whether it be synchrotron radiation, inverse-Compton radiation or curvature radiation. It is proposed therefore that radiation in the optical part of the spectrum is coherent. In the polar cap model, a small bunch of electrons and positrons forms near each primary electron as a result of the pair-production cascade process. Ambient electric fields give rise to energy separation, as a result of which either the electrons or positrons will dominate the radiation from each bunch. The roll-off in the infrared is ascribed to synchrotron absorption by electrons and positrons located between the surface of the star and the force-balance radius. Various consequences of this model, which may be subjected to observational test, are discussed

Pulsar extinction

Radio emission from pulsars, attributed to an instability associated with the creation of electron-positron pairs from gamma rays was investigated. The condition for pair creation therefore lead to an extinction condition. The relevant physical processes were analyzed in the context of a mathematical model, according to which radiation originated at the polar caps and magnetic field lines changed from a closed configuration to an open configuration at the force balance or corotation radius

Transversity and Collins functions from SIDIS and e+e- data

A global analysis of the experimental data on azimuthal asymmetries in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering (SIDIS), from the HERMES and COMPASS Collaborations, and in e+e- --> h1 h2 X processes, from the BELLE Collaboration, is performed. It results in the extraction of the Collins fragmentation function and, for the first time, of the transversity distribution function for u and d quarks. These turn out to have opposite signs and to be sizably smaller than their positivity bounds. Predictions for the azimuthal asymmetry A_{UT}^{sin(phi_h + phi_S)}, as will soon be measured at JLab and COMPASS operating on a transversely polarized proton target, are then presented.Comment: Revised version to appear in Phys. Rev. D. Few misprints corrected, new figure