2-Jet production in polarised p^→p^→ collisions

Abstract

Following recent interest in the subject of polarisation phenomena, we discuss the cross-sections and polarisation asymmetry in 2-jet production in polarised proton-polarised proton p^→p^→ scattering. We set up a complete set of parametrisations for the proton spin-dependent parton densities and use them to demonstrate that this cross-section is dominated by gluonic terms. Hence, a measurement of the asymmetry in such processes will provide information on the gluon spin-dependent density. We further show that a factorisation of the hadronic cross-section a la Combridge and Maxwell's work in unpolarised 2-jet production also applies to the spin-dependent case. Hence, the cross-section can be written in terms of a genericpolarised parton density, which can then be measured in the process.