Beam-Spin Asymmetries in the Azimuthal Distribution of Pion Electroproduction

A measurement of the beam-spin asymmetry in the azimuthal distribution of pions produced in semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering off protons is presented. The measurement was performed using the HERMES spectrometer with a hydrogen gas target and the longitudinally polarized 27.6 GeV positron beam of HERA. The sinusoidal amplitude of the dependence of the asymmetry on the angle ϕ of the hadron production plane around the virtual photon direction relative to the lepton scattering plane was measured for π + π + , π − π − and π 0 π 0 mesons. The dependence of this amplitude on the Bjorken scaling variable and on the pion fractional energy and transverse momentum is presented. The results are compared to theoretical model calculations.