Using W Bosons to Probe Spin Contributions (IMAGE)

DOE/Brookhaven National Laboratory

Using W Bosons to Probe Spin Contributions

Caption

Collisions of polarized protons (beam entering from left) and unpolarized protons (right) result in the production of W bosons (in this case, W-). RHIC's detectors identify the particles emitted as the W bosons decay (in this case, electrons, e-) and the angles at which they emerge. The colored arrows represent different possible directions, which probe how different quark flavors--e.g., an "up" antiquark (u) and a "down" quark (d)--contribute to the proton spin.

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Brookhaven National Laboratory

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