Analyzing the nucleon spin in weak interaction processes at HERA energies

Abstract

We investigate the possibility to measure the spin content carried by the different quark flavors in a nucleon by means of polarized deep inelastic scattering with $W^\pm$ exchange at HERA. Such measurements require a polarized proton beam. The expected inclusive and semi inclusive asymmetries are sizable and for realistic luminosities the expected statistical accuracies are good enough to extract new and relevant information on the valence quark and the strange sea distributions.