Measurement of the target-normal single-spin asymmetry in quasielastic scattering from the reaction He3↑(e,e')

We report the first measurement of the target single-spin asymmetry, Ay, in quasi-elastic scattering from the inclusive reaction 3He↑ (e,e') on a 3He gas target polarized normal to the lepton scattering plane. Assuming time-reversal invariance, this asymmetry is strictly zero for one-photon exchange. A non-zero Ay can arise from the interference between the one- and two-photon exchange processes which is sensitive to the details of the sub-structure of the nucleon. An experiment recently completed at Jefferson Lab yielded asymmetries with high statistical precision at Q2= 0.13, 0.46 and 0.97 GeV2. These measurements demonstrate, for the first time, that the 3He asymmetry is clearly non-zero and negative with a statistical significance of (8-10)σ. Using measured proton-to-3He cross-section ratios and the effective polarization approximation, neutron asymmetries of -(1-3)% were obtained. The neutron asymmetry at high Q2 is related to moments of the Generalized Parton Distributions (GPDs). Our measured neutron asymmetry at Q2=0.97 GeV2 agrees well with a prediction based on two-photon exchange using a GPD model and in addition provides a new independent constraint on these distributions.