Cross sections and single spin asymmetries in hadronic collisions with intrinsic transverse momentum effects

Abstract

The role of intrinsic transverse momentum both in unpolarized and polarized processes is discussed. We consider inclusive cross sections for pion production in hadronic collisions and for Drell-Yan processes; the results are compared with available experimental data in several different kinematical situations. We reanalyze transverse single spin asymmetries (SSA) observed in inclusive pion production, p(transv. polarized) p --> pion + X, in terms of Sivers effect and show how it can be disentangled in polarized Drell-Yan processes by suitably integrating over some final configurations. Estimates for RHIC experiments are given.