One of the main challenges in nuclear and particle physics in the last 20 years has been to understand how the proton''s spin is built up from its quark and gluon constituents. Quark models generally predict that about 60% of the proton''s spin should be carried by the spin of the quarks inside, whereas high energy scattering experiments have shown that the quark spin contribution is small OCo only about 30%. This result has been the underlying motivation for about 1000 theoretical papers and a global program of dedicated spin experiments at BNL, CERN, DESY and Jefferson Laboratory to map the individual quark and gluon angular momentum contributions to the proton''s spin, which are now yielding exciting results. This book gives an overview of the present status of the field: what is new in the data and what can be expected in the next few years. The emphasis is on the main physical ideas and the interpretation of spin data. The interface between QCD spin physics and the famous axial U(1) problem of QCD (eta and etaprime meson physics) is also highlighted. Sample Chapter(s). Chapter 1: Introduction (159 KB). Contents: Spin Experiments and Data; Dispersion Relations and Spin Sum Rules; g 1 Spin Sum Rules; Fixed Poles; The Axial Anomaly, Gluon topology and g (0) A; Chiral Symmetry and Axial U(1) Dynamics; QCD Inspired Models of the Proton Spin Problem; The Spin-Flavour Structure of the Proton; QCD Fits to g 1 Data; Polarized Quark Distributions; Polarized Glue o g(x, Q 2 ); Transversity; Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering and Exclusive Processes; Polarized Photon Structure Functions; Conclusions and Open Questions: How Does the Proton Spin?. Readership: Academics, as well as physicists working on particle and nuclear physics at the interface of theory and experiment.

The topic of the internal spin structure of the nucleon has become an unusually active subfield of particle and nuclear physics, together with the relevant technologies. This volume presents up-to-date coverage.All the talks given at the symposium can be found in the volume. In addition, selected articles are reprinted, including two early papers which record initial thinking about the topic, all experimental papers giving data on nucleon spin structure functions determined from polarized lepton-nucleon scattering, and two valuable previously unpublished papers.

From its early beginnings at SLAC in the 1970's, the study of nucleon spin structure using polarized lepton beams and polarized nucleon targets has become increasingly important in nuclear and particle physics, with current experiments at several of the world's high energy and nuclear physics laboratories (CERN, DESY, SLAC and Jefferson Lab) and with enormous related theoretical studies. The understanding of the fascinating but complicated problem of nucleon spin structure has progressed substantially, but fundamental questions remain and it can be confidently predicted that future activity will be high.The Erice Course on The Spin Structure of the Nucleon covered both the experimental and theoretical aspects of the subject, and this volume includes the lectures given at the School. In many cases the lecture material has been extended and updated by the authors. In addition, several recent publications on experimental work have been added in an appendix.