Spin Structure Functions g_1 and g_2 for the Proton and Deuteron

Abstract

The experiment E155 at SLAC measured the spin structure functions g_1 and g_2 of the proton and deuteron. The experiment used deep inelastic scattering of 48.3 GeV longitudinally polarized electrons incident on polarized solid ^{15}NH_3 and ^{6}LiD targets. The data taken by three independent spectrometers covered a kinematic range of 0.014 < x < 0.9 and 1 (GeV/c)^2 < Q^2 < 40 (GeV/c)^2. Due to the high luminosity and polarization available at SLAC the data on g_1 are to date the most precise in this kinematic range. The x and Q^2 dependence of g_1 has been studied using NLO PQCD fits, allowing extraction of values for the Bjorken sum rule and quark and gluon spin contributions to the nucleon. Results are presented for g_1 and g_2 for the proton and deuteron.