Spin Physics at RHIC

Abstract

The physics goals that will be addressed by colliding polarized protons at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) are described. The RHIC spin program provides a new generation of experiments that will unfold the quark, anti-quark and gluon contributions to the proton's spin. In addition to these longer term goals, this paper describes what was learned from the first polarized proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$=200 GeV. These collisions took place in a five-week run during the second year of RHIC operation.