Measurement of Lambda polarization in muon neutrino charged current interactions in NOMAD

Abstract

The Lambda polarization in muon neutrino charged current interactions has been measured in the NOMAD experiment. We observe negative polarization along the W - boson direction which is enhanced in the target fragmentation region: Px (xF < 0) = -0.21 +/- 0.04(stat) +/- 0.02(sys). In the current fragmentation region we find: Px (xF > 0) = -0.09 +/- 0.06(stat) +/- 0.03(sys). These results provide a test of different models describing the nucleon spin composition and the spin transfer mechanisms. A significant transverse polarization (in the direction orthogonal to the Lambda production plane) has been observed for the first time in a neutrino experiment: Py = -0.22 +/- 0.03(stat) +/- 0.01(sys). The dependence of the absolute value of Py on the Lambda transverse momentum with respect to the hadronic jet direction is in qualitative agreement with the results from unpolarized hadron-hadron experiments.