corner
corner
APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 101 » Issue 12
< Previous Article | Next Article >

Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 122001 (2008) [4 pages]

Spin Structure of the Pion

Download: PDF (510 kB) Buy this article Export: BibTeX or EndNote (RIS)

D. Brömmel1,2, M. Diehl1, M. Göckeler2, Ph. Hägler3,*, R. Horsley4, Y. Nakamura5, D. Pleiter5, P. E. L. Rakow6, A. Schäfer2, G. Schierholz1,5, H. Stüben7, and J. M. Zanotti4 (QCDSF/UKQCD Collaborations)
1Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, 22603 Hamburg, Germany
2Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Regensburg, 93040 Regensburg, Germany
3Institut für Theoretische Physik T39, Physik-Department der TU München, 85747 Garching, Germany
4School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JZ, United Kingdom
5John von Neumann-Institut für Computing NIC/DESY, 15738 Zeuthen, Germany
6Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3BX, United Kingdom
7Konrad-Zuse-Zentrum für Informationstechnik Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany

Received 26 August 2007; published 17 September 2008

We present the first calculation of the transverse spin structure of the pion in lattice QCD. Our simulations are based on two flavors of nonperturbatively improved Wilson fermions, with pion masses as low as 400 MeV in volumes up to (2.1  fm)3 and lattice spacings below 0.1 fm. We find a characteristic asymmetry in the spatial distribution of transversely polarized quarks. This asymmetry is very similar in magnitude to the analogous asymmetry we previously obtained for quarks in the nucleon. Our results support the hypothesis that all Boer-Mulders functions are alike.

© 2008 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.122001
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.122001
PACS:
12.38.Gc, 14.40.Aq

*phaegler@ph.tum.de

 
< Previous Article | Next Article >