| The experiment E06010 measured the target single spin asymmetry (SSA) in the semi-inclusive deep inelastic (SIDIS) n †(e,e'pi- )X reaction with a transversely polarized 3He target as an effective neutron target. This is the very first independent measurement of the neutron SSA, following the measurements at HERMES and COMPASS on the proton and the deuteron. The experiment acquired data in Hall A at Jefferson Laboratory with a continuous electron beam of energy 5.9 GeV, probing the valence quark region, with x = 0.13 → 0.41, at Q2 = 1.31 → 3.1 GeV2. The two contributing mechanisms to the measured asymmetry, viz, the Collins effect and the Sivers effect can be realized through the variation of the asymmetry as a function of the Collins and Sivers angles. The neutron Collins and Sivers moments, associated with the azimuthal angular modulations, are extracted from the measured asymmetry for the very first time and are presented in this thesis. The kinematics of this experiment is comparable to the HERMES proton measurement. However, the COMPASS measurements on deuteron and proton are in the low-x region. The results of this experiment are crucial as the first step toward the extraction of quark transversity and Sivers distribution functions in SIDIS. With the existing results on proton and deuteron, these new results on neutron will provide powerful constraints on the transversity and Sivers distributions of both the u and d-quarks in the valence region. |
