We report on a determination of the analyzing power Ay in the reaction studied with the TOF spectrometer located at the COSY-accelerator (Forschungszentrum Juelich, Germany). This spectrometer is very well suited for polarization measurements due to its rotational symmetry and full coverage of the azimuthal angle. For a beam momentum of p=3065MeV/c corresponding to an excess energy of epsilon (Porson) =129MeV Ay is found to be compatible with zero.

A study of the angular distributions of leptons from decays of J/psi's produced in p-C and p-W collisions at sqrt{s}=41.6 GeV has been performed in the Feynman-x region -0.34 < x_F < 0.14 and for transverse momentum up to 5.4 GeV/c. The data were collected by the HERA-B experiment at the HERA proton ring of the DESY laboratory. The results, based on a clean selection of 2.3 x 10^5 J/psi's reconstructed in both the e^+ e^- and mu^+ mu^- decay channels, indicate that J/psi's are produced with longitudinal polarization. The magnitude of the effect is maximal at low p_T. For p_T >1 GeV/c a significant dependence on the reference frame is found: the polar anisotropy is more pronounced in the Collins-Soper frame and almost vanishes in the helicity frame, where, instead, a significant azimuthal anisotropy arises.

The extreme temperatures and energy densities generated by ultra-relativistic collisions between heavy nuclei produce a state of matter with surprising fluid properties. Non-central collisions have angular momentum on the order of 1000$\hbar$, and the resulting fluid may have a strong vortical structure that must be understood to properly describe the fluid. It is also of particular interest because the restoration of fundamental symmetries of quantum chromodynamics is expected to produce novel physical effects in the presence of strong vorticity. However, no experimental indications of fluid vorticity in heavy ion collisions have so far been found. Here we present the first measurement of an alignment between the angular momentum of a non-central collision and the spin of emitted particles, revealing that the fluid produced in heavy ion collisions is by far the most vortical system ever observed. We find that $\Lambda$ and $\overline{\Lambda}$ hyperons show a positive polarization of the order of a few percent, consistent with some hydrodynamic predictions. A previous measurement that reported a null result at higher collision energies is seen to be consistent with the trend of our new observations, though with larger statistical uncertainties. These data provide the first experimental access to the vortical structure of the "perfect fluid" created in a heavy ion collision. They should prove valuable in the development of hydrodynamic models that quantitatively connect observations to the theory of the Strong Force. Our results extend the recent discovery of hydrodynamic spin alignment to the subatomic realm.

Global hyperon polarization, $\overline{P}_\mathrm{H}$, in Au+Au collisions over a large range of collision energy, $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$, was recently measured and successfully reproduced by hydrodynamic and transport models with intense fluid vorticity of the quark-gluon plasma. While naïve extrapolation of data trends suggests a large $\overline{P}_\mathrm{H}$ as the collision energy is reduced, the behavior of $\overline{P}_\mathrm{H}$ at small $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}<7.7$ GeV is unknown. Operating the STAR experiment in fixed-target mode, we measured the polarization of $\Lambda$ hyperons along the direction of global angular momentum in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}=3$ GeV. The observation of substantial polarization of $4.91\pm0.81(\rm stat.)\pm0.15(\rm syst.)$% in these collisions may require a reexamination of the viscosity of any fluid created in the collision, of the thermalization timescale of rotational modes, and of hadronic mechanisms to produce global polarization.

In relativistic heavy-ion collisions, a global spin polarization, $P_\mathrm{H}$, of $\Lambda$ and $\bar{\Lambda}$ hyperons along the direction of the system angular momentum was discovered and measured across a broad range of collision energies and demonstrated a trend of increasing $P_\mathrm{H}$ with decreasing $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$. A splitting between $\Lambda$ and $\bar{\Lambda}$ polarization may be possible due to their different magnetic moments in a late-stage magnetic field sustained by the quark-gluon plasma which is formed in the collision. The results presented in this study find no significant splitting at the collision energies of $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=19.6$ and $27$ GeV in the RHIC Beam Energy Scan Phase II using the STAR detector, with an upper limit of $P_{\bar{\Lambda}}-P_{\Lambda}<0.24$% and $P_{\bar{\Lambda}}-P_{\Lambda}<0.35$%, respectively, at a 95% confidence level. We derive an upper limit on the na\"ive extraction of the late-stage magnetic field of $B<9.4\cdot10^{12}$ T and $B<1.4\cdot10^{13}$ T at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=19.6$ and $27$ GeV, respectively, although more thorough derivations are needed. Differential measurements of $P_\mathrm{H}$ were performed with respect to collision centrality, transverse momentum, and rapidity. With our current acceptance of $|y|<1$ and uncertainties, we observe no dependence on transverse momentum and rapidity in this analysis. These results challenge multiple existing model calculations following a variety of different assumptions which have each predicted a strong dependence on rapidity in this collision-energy range.

The polarization of Λ0 hyperons in inclusive production by 12-GeV protons on nuclei has been measured for beryllium, copper, and tungsten targets. Data are obtained at five production angles, 3.5°, 5.0°, 6.5°, 8.0°, and 9.5°, covering the kinematic range 0.26≤xF≤0.77 and 0.4≤pT≤1.5 GeV/c. The dependence of the polarization on target nuclei is investigated by statistical analyses of the data. The polarization at fixed pT increases roughly linearly with xF. The present results are compared with other work at higher energies in terms of the A dependence and the (xF,pT) dependence.

Results are presented from data recorded in 2009 by the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider for the double-longitudinal spin asymmetry, $A_{LL}$, for $\pi^0$ and $\eta$ production in $\sqrt{s} = 200$ GeV polarized $p$$+$$p$ collisions. Comparison of the $\pi^0$ results with different theory expectations based on fits of other published data showed a preference for small positive values of gluon polarization, $\Delta G$, in the proton in the probed Bjorken $x$ range. The effect of adding the new 2009 \pz data to a recent global analysis of polarized scattering data is also shown, resulting in a best fit value $\Delta G^{[0.05,0.2]}_{\mbox{DSSV}} = 0.06^{+0.11}_{-0.15}$ in the range $0.05<x<0.2$, with the uncertainty at $\Delta \chi^2 = 9$ when considering only statistical experimental uncertainties. Shifting the PHENIX data points by their systematic uncertainty leads to a variation of the best-fit value of $\Delta G^{[0.05,0.2]}_{\mbox{DSSV}}$ between $0.02$ and $0.12$, demonstrating the need for full treatment of the experimental systematic uncertainties in future global analyses.

We have measured the polarization of J/Psi and Psi(2S) mesons produced in p\bar{p} collisions at \sqrt{s} = 1.8 TeV, using data collected at CDF during 1992-95. The polarization of promptly produced J/Psi [Psi(2S)] mesons is isolated from those produced in B-hadron decay, and measured over the kinematic range 4[5.5] < P_T < 20 GeV/c and |y| < 0.6. For P_T \gessim 12 GeV/c we do not observe significant polarization in the prompt component.

The single spin asymmetry for inclusive direct-photon production has been measured using a polarized proton beam of 200 GeV/c with an unpolarized proton target at −0.15 < xf < 0.15 and 2.5 < pt < 3.1 GeV/c at Fermilab. The data on the cross section for pp → γX at 2.5 < pt < 3.8 GeV/c are also provided. The measurement was done using lead-glass calorimeters and photon detectors which surrounded the fiducial area of the calorimeters. Background rejection has been done using these surrounding photon detectors. The cross section obtained is consistent with the results of previous measurements assuming a nuclear dependence of A 1.0 . The single spin asymmetry, A N , for the direct-photon production is consistent with zero within experimental uncertainty.

The transverse polarization of $\Lambda$ and $\bar\Lambda$ hyperons produced in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is measured. The analysis uses 760 $\mu$b$^{-1}$ of minimum bias data collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC in the year 2010. The measured transverse polarization averaged over Feynman $x_{\rm F}$ from $5\times 10^{-5}$ to 0.01 and transverse momentum $p_{\rm T}$ from 0.8 to 15 GeV is $-0.010 \pm 0.005({\rm stat}) \pm 0.004({\rm syst})$ for $\Lambda$ and $0.002 \pm 0.006({\rm stat}) \pm 0.004({\rm syst})$ for $\bar\Lambda$. It is also measured as a function of $x_{\rm F}$ and $p_{\rm T}$, but no significant dependence on these variables is observed. Prior to this measurement, the polarization was measured at fixed-target experiments with center-of-mass energies up to about 40 GeV. The ATLAS results are compatible with the extrapolation of a fit from previous measurements to the $x_{\rm F}$ range covered by this mesurement.