Dr. Andrew Puckett

Title: Transverse spin effects in high-energy electron-nucleon scattering

Abstract: Electron scattering experiments have historically been the
richest and most precise source of information about the structure of the
nucleon. At sufficiently high energies, electrons penetrate deep inside
the nucleon and collide with its elementary quark constituents. Inclusive
deep inelastic electron scattering (DIS) experiments first established the
existence of pointlike constituents of the nucleon, identified with the
quarks of QCD, and eventually mapped the momentum distribution of the
quarks in the nucleon over a wide range of energies. In recent years,
semi-inclusive experiments in which leading hadrons are detected among the
debris of the struck quark in DIS have provided access to a wealth of new
information. Of particular interest, transverse spin phenomena have the
potential to provide new fundamental insights in the application of QCD to
the understanding of the nucleon spin puzzle. In this talk, I will present
the results of completed experiments at Jefferson Lab (JLab) on the
transverse spin structure of the neutron. I will also discuss the
opportunities presented by the impending 12 GeV upgrade of JLab's electron
beam and the challenges and solutions involved in taking advantage of
these opportunities.