Proton spin after 30 years: what we know and what we don't?

Abstract

More than three decades has passed since the European Muon Collaboration published the first surprising result on the spin structure of the proton. Much theoretical and experimental progress has been made in understanding the origins of the proton spin. In this review, we will discuss what we have learned so far, what are still missing, and what we shall expect to learn from the upcoming experiments including JLab 12 GeV and Electron-Ion Collider. In particular, we focus on first principles calculations and experimental measurements of the total gluon helicity $\Delta G$, and quark and gluon orbital angular momenta.