Single transverse-spin asymmetry in very forward and very backward neutral particle production for polarized proton collisions at √S=200 GeV

In the 2001-2002 running period of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), transversely polarized protons were accelerated to 100 GeV for the first time, with collisions at root s = 200 GeV. We present results from this run for single transverse-spin asymmetries for inclusive production of neutral pions, photons and neutrons of the energy region 20-100 GeV for forward and backward production for angles between 0.3 mrad and 2.2 mrad with respect to the polarized proton direction. An asymmetry of A(N) = (-0.090 +/- 0.006 +/- 0.009) X (1.0(-0.24)(+047)) was observed for forward neutron production, where the errors are statistical and systematic, and the scale error is from the beam polarization uncertainty. The forward photon and pi(0), and backward neutron, photon, and pi(0) asymmetries were consistent with zero. The large neutron asymmetry indicates a strong interference between a spin-flip amplitude, such as one pion exchange which dominates lower energy neutron production, and remaining spin-non-flip amplitudes such as reggeon exchange. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.