Data taking has been started at the first stage of the SPASCHARM experiment on systematic study of the spin effects in strong interactions. The current setup configuration is described, and the detector characteristics attained during the beam data taking in the runs of 2018–2022 are listed.

First results on the polarization of Λ hyperons inclusively produced on 26.5-GeV/c K^ - and π^ - beams are presented. The measurements were carried out using the SPASCHARM setup at the U-70 accelerator facility (Protvino, Russia) on nuclear targets in 2021 and 2022. The polarization of an Λ hyperon on the π^ - beam does not exceed several percent in most of the studied kinematic region. The data obtained on the K^ - -meson beam exhibit a significant positive polarization at large values of the Feynman variable xF and transverse momentum pT measured for the first time on nuclei.

The SPASCHARM experiment is aimed at a systematic study of the nucleon spin structure and the spin dependence of the strong interaction of antimatter and matter with matter at energies up to 45 GeV. As part of the first stage of the experiment, the study of the spin properties of hadrons will take place in a beam of negatively charged hadrons on existing beamline 14 at the operating SPASCHARM setup at the U70 facility. At the second stage, the production of polarized beams of protons and antiprotons is envisaged in beamline 24A of the U-70 accelerator facility. A polarized antiproton beam will certainly become a unique beam in the world. It is planned to measure single-spin asymmetries in dozens of reactions, both on hydrogen and on various nuclei. At the SPASCHARM facility, it is also possible to measure the transverse polarization of hyperons and elements of the spin density matrix of vector mesons. The spin structure of the nucleon will be investigated in the study of quarkonium production to determine the contribution of gluons to the proton spin. The presence of two types of polarized beams and eight types of nonpolarized beams (π ± , K ± , p , p̅ , d , C ), in combination with a polarized target, expands the range of studies of polarization phenomena and enhances the uniqueness of the project.

The Compton double-polarization observable Sigma(2z) has been measured for the first time in the Delta(1232) resonance region using a circularly polarized photon beam incident on a longitudinally polarized proton target at the Mainz Microtron. This paper reports these results, together with the model-dependent extraction of four proton spin polarizabilities from fits to additional asymmetry data using either a dispersion relation calculation or a baryon chiral perturbation theory calculations with the weighted average of these two fits resulting -2.87 0.52, gamma(E1E1) = 2.70 0.43, gamma(E1M2) = in gamma(E1M2) = -0.85 +/- 0.72, and gamma(M1E2) = 2.04 +/- 0.43, in units of 10(-4) fm(4).

The Compton double-polarization observable Σ_2z has been measured for the first time in the Δ(1232) resonance region using a circularly polarized photon beam incident on a longitudinally polarized target at the Mainz Microtron. This paper reports these results, together with the model-dependent extraction of four proton spin polarizabilities from fits to additional asymmetry data using dispersion relation and chiral perturbation theory calculations, with the former resulting in: γ_E1E1 = -3.18 ± 0.52, γ_M1M1 = 2.98 ± 0.43, γ_E1M2 = -0.44 ± 0.67 and γ_M1E2 = 1.58 ± 0.43, in units of 10^-4 fm^4.

The double-polarization observable E and the helicity-dependent cross sections σ1/2 and σ3/2 have been measured for the first time for single π0 photoproduction from protons and neutrons bound in the deuteron at the electron accelerator facility MAMI in Mainz, Germany. The experiment used a circularly polarized photon beam and a longitudinally polarized deuterated butanol target. The reaction products, recoil nucleons and decay photons from the π0 meson were detected with the Crystal Ball and TAPS electromagnetic calorimeters. Effects from nuclear Fermi motion were removed by a kinematic reconstruction of the π0N final state. A comparison to data measured with a free proton target showed that the absolute scale of the cross sections is significantly modified by nuclear final-state interaction (FSI) effects. However, there is no significant effect on the asymmetry E since the σ1/2 and σ3/2 components appear to be influenced in a similar way. Thus, the best approximation of the two helicity-dependent cross sections for the free neutron is obtained by combining the asymmetry E measured with quasi-free neutrons and the unpolarized cross section corrected for FSI effects under the assumption that the FSI effects are similar for neutrons and protons.

Precise helicity-dependent cross sections and the double-polarization observable E were measured for η photoproduction from quasifree protons and neutrons bound in the deuteron. The η → 2γ and η → 3π0 → 6γ decay modes were used to optimize the statistical quality of the data and to estimate systematic uncertainties. The measurement used the A2 detector setup at the tagged photon beam of the electron accelerator MAMI in Mainz. A longitudinally polarized deuterated butanol target was used in combination with a circularly polarized photon beam from bremsstrahlung of a longitudinally polarized electron beam. The reaction products were detected with the electromagnetic calorimeters Crystal Ball and TAPS, which covered 98% of the full solid angle. The results show that the narrow structure observed earlier in the unpolarized excitation function of η photoproduction off the neutron appears only in reactions with antiparallel photon and nucleon spin (σ1/2). It is absent for reactions with parallel spin orientation (σ3/2) and thus very probably related to partial waves with total spin 1/2. The behavior of the angular distributions of the helicity-dependent cross sections was analyzed by fitting them with Legendre polynomials. The results are in good agreement with a model from the Bonn-Gatchina group, which uses an interference of P11 and S11 partial waves to explain the narrow structure.

. High-statistics measurements of the photon asymmetry Σ for the γp→π^0p reaction have been made in the center-of-mass energy range W=1214-1450 MeV. The data were measured with the MAMI A2 real photon beam and Crystal Ball/TAPS detector systems in Mainz, Germany. The results significantly improve the existing world data and are shown to be in good agreement with previous measurements, and with the MAID, SAID, and Bonn-Gatchina predictions. We have also combined the photon asymmetry results with recent cross-section measurements from Mainz to calculate the profile functions, Σ̌ (= σ_0Σ) , and perform a moment analysis. Comparison with calculations from the Bonn-Gatchina model shows that the precision of the data is good enough to further constrain the higher partial waves, and there is an indication of interference between the very small F -waves and the N(1520) 3/2^- and N(1535) 1/2^- resonances.

A new experiment SPASCHARM for systematic study of polarization phenomena in inclusive and exclusive hadronic reactions is currently under commissioning at IHEP. The universal experimental setup will detect dozens of various resonances and stable particles produced in collisions of unpolarized beams with the polarized target, and at the next stage, using polarized beams. At the first stage with polarized target, the final states composed of light quarks (u, d, s) will be reconstructed. Hyperon polarization and spin density matrix elements of the vector mesons will be measured along with the single-spin asymmetries. The 2π-acceptance in azimuth, which is extremely useful for reduction of systematic errors in measurements of spin observables, will be implemented in the experiment. The solid angle acceptance of the setup, Δθ≈250 mrad vertically and 350 mrad horizontally in the beam fragmentation region, covers a wide range of kinematic variables pT and xF. This provides the opportunity for separating dependences on these two variables which is usually not possible in the setups with a small solid angle acceptance. Unlike some previous polarization experiments, the SPASCHARM will be able to simultaneously accumulate and record data on the both, charged and neutral particle production.

The double polarization observable E and the helicity dependent cross sections σ_{1/2} and σ_{3/2} were measured for η photoproduction from quasifree protons and neutrons. The circularly polarized tagged photon beam of the A2 experiment at the Mainz MAMI accelerator was used in combination with a longitudinally polarized deuterated butanol target. The almost 4π detector setup of the Crystal Ball and TAPS is ideally suited to detect the recoil nucleons and the decay photons from η→2γ and η→3π^{0}. The results show that the narrow structure previously observed in η photoproduction from the neutron is only apparent in σ_{1/2} and hence, most likely related to a spin-1/2 amplitude. Nucleon resonances that contribute to this partial wave in η production are only N 1/2^{-} (S_{11}) and N 1/2^{+} (P_{11}). Furthermore, the extracted Legendre coefficients of the angular distributions for σ_{1/2} are in good agreement with recent reaction model predictions assuming a narrow resonance in the P_{11} wave as the origin of this structure.

High-statistics measurements of the photon asymmetry for the reaction have been made in the center-of-mass energy range MeV. The data were measured with the MAMI A2 real photon beam and Crystal Ball/TAPS detector systems in Mainz, Germany. The results significantly improve the existing world data and are shown to be in good agreement with previous measurements, and with the MAID, SAID, and Bonn-Gatchina predictions. We have also combined the photon asymmetry results with recent cross-section measurements from Mainz to calculate the profile functions, , and perform a moment analysis. Comparison with calculations from the Bonn-Gatchina model shows that the precision of the data is good enough to further constrain the higher partial waves, and there is an indication of interference between the very small F -waves and the and resonances.

The first data on target and beam-target asymmetries for the gamma p -> pi(0)eta p reaction at photon energies from 1050 up to 1450 MeV are presented. The measurements were performed using the Crystal Ball and TAPS detector setup at the Glasgow tagged photon facility of the Mainz Microtron MAMI. The general assumption that the reaction is dominated by the Delta 3/2-amplitude is confirmed. The data are in particular sensitive to small contributions from other partial waves.

The spin polarizabilities of the nucleon describe how the spin of the nucleon responds to an incident polarized photon. The most model-independent way to measure the nucleon spin polarizabilities is through polarized Compton scattering. Double-polarized Compton scattering asymmetries on the proton were measured in the $\Delta(1232)$ region using circularly polarized incident photons and a transversely polarized proton target at the Mainz Microtron. Fits to asymmetry data were performed using a dispersion model calculation and a baryon chiral perturbation theory calculation, and a separation of all four proton spin polarizabilities in the multipole basis was achieved. The analysis based on a dispersion model calculation yields $\gamma_{E1E1} = -3.5 \pm 1.2$, $\gamma_{M1M1}= 3.16 \pm 0.85$, $\gamma_{E1M2} = -0.7 \pm 1.2$, and $\gamma_{M1E2} = 1.99 \pm 0.29$, in units of $10^{-4}$ fm$^4$.

The results obtained by measuring, at the U-70 accelerator in Protvino, the single-spin asymmetry A N in the reaction p + p └ → π0 + X at a beam energy of 50 GeV in the Feynman variable range of −0.6 < x F < −0.1 are presented. The asymmetry A N is close to zero at small |x F | and grows in magnitude with |x F |, reaching 6.4% in the region of |x F | > 0.25. The results of these measurements agree with data of the E704 experiment on the asymmetry of π 0 mesons at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in the region of polarized-beam fragmentation and with the results of measurements in the region of polarized-target fragmentation that were performed in Protvino by using a 40-GeV π −-meson beam and a 70-GeV proton beam.

The new frozen spin polarized target for experiments at the polarized beam of the real photon facility A2 of the MAMI accelerator is described. The A2-collaboration at the Mainz Microtron MAMI is measuring photon absorption cross section using circularly and linearly polarized photons up to the energy of 1.5 GeV. The photons are produced in the’ Bremsstrahlungs’ process. In the years 2005/2006 the Crystal Ball detector with its unique capability to cope with multi photon final states was set up in Mainz. Since 2010 the experimental apparatus has been completed by a polarized target. The horizontal dilution refrigerator of the Frozen-Spin Target has been constructed and is operated in close cooperation with the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia. The system offers the opportunity to provide longitudinally and transversely polarized protons and deuteron. In this paper the operation experience of this new Frozen-Spin Target and first results from the runs in 2010 and 2011 are presented.

A new experiment SPASCHARM devoted to a systematic study of polarization phenomena in hadron-hadron interactions in the energy range 10-70 GeV is under preparation at IHEP (Protvino). The physical observables will be single-spin asymmetries, hyperon polarizations and spin-density matrix elements. A universal setup will detect and identify various neutral and charge particles in the full azimuthal angle and a wide polar angle range. A polarized target is used to measure the SSA. The SPASCHARM sub-detectors are being designed and constructed now. The possibility of obtaining a polarized proton beam for the SPASCHARM experiment from Lambda decays is under study.

The single-spin asymmetry A N in the reaction π − + d ↑ → π 0 + X in the beam-fragmentation region at the energy of 40 GeV was investigated by using the PROZA setup installed at the U-70 accelerator of the Institute for High Energy Physics (IHEP, Protvino). It was measured to be A N = (13.6 ± 2.6(stat.) ± 2.0(syst.))% in the intervals 0.7 < x F < 1.0 and 1.0 < p T < 1.8 GeV/ c . The results agree with the asymmetry of π 0 mesons in the charge-exchange reaction π − + p ↑ → π 0 + n at the same values of the transverse momentum and beam energy. The asymmetry in the reaction K − + d ↑ → π 0 + X was simultaneously measured and found to be A N = (11 ± 14)% for p T > 1.2 GeV/ c .