Precision Measurement of the Neutron Twist-3 Matrix Element d(2)(n): Probing Color Forces

Abstract

Double-spin asymmetries and absolute cross sections were measured at large Bjorken x (0.25 ≤ x ≤ 0.90), in both the deep-inelastic and resonance regions, by scattering longitudinally polarized electrons at beam energies of 4.7 and 5.9 GeV from a transversely and longitudinally polarized 3He target. In this dedicated experiment, the spin structure function g(2)(3He) was determined with precision at large x, and the neutron twist-3 matrix element d(2)(n) was measured at \u3c Q2\u3e of 3.21 and 4.32 GeV2/c2, with an absolute precision of about 10-5. Our results are found to be in agreement with lattice QCD calculations and resolve the disagreement found with previous data at \u3c Q2\u3e = 5 GeV2/c2. Combining d(2)(n) and a newly extracted twist-4 matrix element f(2)(n), the average neutron color electric and magnetic forces were extracted and found to be of opposite sign and about 30 MeV/fm in magnitude

    Similar works