R. Akhunzyanov

Valence and sea contributions to the nucleon spin

The first moments of the polarized valence parton distribution functions (PDFs) truncated to the wide Bjorken x region 0.004<x<0.7 are directly (without any fitting procedure) extracted in the next to leading order (NLO) QCD from both COMPASS and HERMES data on pion production in polarized semi-inclusive DIS (SIDIS) experiments. The COMPASS and HERMES data are combined in two ways and two scenarios for the fragmentation functions (FFs) are considered. Two procedures are proposed for an estimation of light sea quark contributions to the proton spin. Both lead to the conclusion that these contributions are compatible with zero within the errors.

QCD analysis of DIS and SIDIS data with two alternative methods

The global fit analysis of all published data on DIS and semi-inclusive DIS (SIDIS) asymmetries is performed in the next to leading (NLO) QCD order. The respective parameterization on polarized PDFs is constructed. The especial attention is paid to the impact of novel SIDIS data on the polarized distributions of light sea and strange quarks as well as on the polarized gluon distributions. The first moments of these distributions entering the nucleon spin are found to be surprisingly small quantities. The alternative direct (free of any fitting procedure) method of NLO QCD analysis is elaborated. Method is especially important for analysis of SIDIS data because it allows to avoid the problems arising in the conventional fitting procedure: functional arbitrariness at initial scale and ambiguities in the error band calculation. Within the alternative method the central values and uncertainties of the measured asymmetries directly propagate to the central values and uncertainties of the polarized PDFs we are interested in. The method is applied to all existing SIDIS data on pion production for an estimation in NLO QCD of the valence and sea quark contributions to the proton spin. As a result one arrives at the conclusion that, contrary to the valence contributions, the sea contributions to the proton spin are compatible with zero within the errors.

QCD analysis of the semi-inclusive COMPASS and HERMES data

The first moments of polarized valence parton distribution functions truncated to the wide Bjorken x region 0.004 < x < 0.7 are directly (without any fitting procedure) extracted in the NLO QCD from combined semi-inclusive DIS data of COMPASS and HERMES collaborations. Two scenarios for fragmentation functions are considered. Applying the proposed original procedure to these results we estimate the contributions of sea u and d quarks to the proton spin, which turn out to be simply zero within the errors.

Connection formulas between the different QCD orders in application to the valence parton distribution functions

Formulas directly connecting parton distribution functions (PDFs) at the leading (LO) and next to leading (NLO) QCD orders are applied with respect to both unpolarized and polarized valence PDFs. It is shown that the connection formulas allow without any restriction on the allowed Q2 range for the analyzed data to produce improved LO results on valence PDFs, which strongly differ from the standard parametrizations on these quantities, and which could be obtained within the standard approach only by using the data produced at very high Q2 values (that is hardly possible in reality).

QCD Analysis of the semi-inclusive HERMES and COMPASS data

The first moments of polarized valence PDFs, responsible for the respective contributions to the nucleon spin, are extracted in NLO QCD from the data of COMPASS and HERMES collaborations on the semi-inclusive difference asymmetries. To this end the new method of QCD analysis (alternative to the usual global fit analysis) is applied. Using the obtained results on valence PDFs the first moments of polarized sea PDFs are reconstructed. They turn out surprisingly small: compatible with zeros within the errors.