The multiplicities of positive and negative pions, kaons and unidentified hadrons produced in deep-inelastic scattering are measured in bins of the Bjorken scaling variable x, the relative virtual-photon energy y and the fraction of the virtual-photon energy transferred to the final-state hadron z. Data were obtained by the COMPASS Collaboration using a 160 GeV muon beam of both electric charges and a liquid hydrogen target. These measurements cover the kinematic domain with photon virtuality Q^2 > 1 (GeV/c)^2, 0.004 < x < 0.4, 0.1 < y < 0.7 and 0.2 < z < 0.85, in accordance with the kinematic domain used in earlier published COMPASS multiplicity measurements with an isoscalar target. The calculation of radiative corrections was improved by using the Monte Carlo generator DJANGOH, which results in up to 12% larger corrections in the low-x region.

A new and detailed measurement of the cross section for hard exclusive neutral-pion muoproduction on the proton was performed in a wide kinematic region, with the photon virtuality Q(2) ranging from 1 to 8 (GeV/c)(2)and the Bjorken variable chi(Bj) ranging from 0.02 to 0.45. The data were collected at COMPASS at CERN using 160 GeV/c longitudinally polarised mu(+) and mu(-) beams scattering off a 2.5m long liquid hydrogen target. From the average of the measured mu(+) and mu(-) cross sections, the virtual-photon-proton cross section is determined as a function of the squared four-momentum transfer between the initial and final state proton in the range 0.08 (GeV/c)(2)< |iota| < 0.64 (GeV/c)(2). From its angular distribution, the combined contribution of transversely and longitudinally polarised photons are determined, as well as transverse-transverse and longitudinal-transverse interference contributions. They are studied as functions of four-momentum transfer |iota|, photon virtuality Q(2) and virtual-photon energy nu. The longitudinal-transverse interference contribution is found to be compatible with zero. The significant transverse-transverse interference contribution reveals the existence of a dominant contribution by transversely polarised photons. This could provide clear experimental evidence for the chiral-odd GPD (E) over bar (T). In addition, the existence of a non-negligible contribution of longitudinally polarised photons is suggested by the |iota|-dependence of the cross section at chi(Bj) < 0.1. Altogether, these results provide valuable input for future modelling of GPDs and thus of cross sections for exclusive pseudo-scalar meson production. Furthermore, they can be expected to facilitate the study of next-to-leading order corrections and higher-twist contributions.

New results are presented on a high-statistics measurement of Collins and Sivers asymmetries of charged hadrons produced in deep inelastic scattering of muons on a transversely polarised $^6$LiD target. The data were taken in 2022 with the COMPASS spectrometer using the 160 \gevv\ muon beam at CERN, balancing the existing data on transversely polarised proton targets. The first results from about two-thirds of the new data have total uncertainties smaller by up to a factor of three compared to the previous deuteron measurements. Using all the COMPASS proton and deuteron results, both the transversity and the Sivers distribution functions of the $u$ and $d$ quark, as well as the tensor charge in the measured $x$-range are extracted. In particular, the accuracy of the $d$ quark results is significantly improved.

Several spectrometer upgrades are planned for future phases of the AMBER (NA66) experiment at CERN. Among these upgrades, the replacement of some aging Multi-Wire Proportional Chambers has motivated a R&D program to develop a Micro-Pattern Gaseous Detector and its frontend electronics. The results of testing the first small Micromegas prototype with the TIGER-based front-end are presented.

A set of measurements of azimuthal asymmetries in the production of pairs of identified hadrons in deep-inelastic scattering of muons on transversely polarised 6LiD (deuteron) and NH3 (proton) targets is presented. All available data collected in the years 2003–2004 and 2007/2010 with the COMPASS spectrometer using a muon beam of 160GeV/c at the CERN SPS were analysed. The asymmetries provide access to the transversity distribution functions via a fragmentation function that in principle may be independently obtained from e+e− annihilation data. Results are presented, discussed and compared to existing measurements as well as to model predictions. Asymmetries of π+π− pairs measured with the proton target as a function of the Bjorken scaling variable are sizeable in the range x>0.032, indicating non-vanishing transversity distribution and di-hadron interference fragmentation functions. As already pointed out by several authors, the small asymmetries of π+π− measured on the 6LiD target can be interpreted as indication for a cancellation of u and d-quark transversity distributions.

The production of vector mesons in deep inelastic scattering is an interesting yet scarcely explored channel to study the transverse spin structure of the nucleon and the spin-dependence of fragmentation. The COMPASS collaboration has performed the first measurement of the Collins and Sivers asymmetries for inclusively produced rho(0) mesons. The analysis is based on the data set collected in deep inelastic scattering in 2010 using a 160 GeV/c mu(+) beam impinging on a transversely polarized NH3 target. The rho(0) mesons are selected from oppositely charged hadron pairs, and the asymmetries are extracted as a function of the Bjorken-xvariable, the transverse momentum of the pair and the fraction of the energy z carried by the pair. Indications for positive Collins and Sivers asymmetries are observed. (c) 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Funded by SCOAP(3).

We present the development and testing of a Micromegas detector prototype and its front end intended to be a candidate for the substitutions of some of the Multiwire Proportional Chambers in the future AMBER (NA66) experiment at CERN. Results of the test of the first small size prototype are discussed.

We present the study of the production of double J/ψ mesons using COMPASS data collected with a 190 GeV/c π^- beam scattering off NH_3, Al and W targets. Kinematic distributions of the collected double J/ψ events are analysed, and the double J/ψ production cross section is estimated for each of the COMPASS targets. The results are compared to predictions from single- and double-parton scattering models as well as the pion intrinsic charm and the tetraquark exotic resonance hypotheses. It is demonstrated that the single parton scattering production mechanism gives the dominant contribution that is sufficient to describe the data. An upper limit on the double intrinsic charm content of pion is evaluated. No significant signatures that could be associated with exotic tetraquarks are found in the double J/ψ mass spectrum.

We report on a measurement of Spin Density Matrix Elements (SDMEs) in hard exclusive ρ ^0 meson muoproduction at COMPASS using 160 GeV/c polarised μ ^+ and μ ^- beams impinging on a liquid hydrogen target. The measurement covers the kinematic range 5.0 GeV/c^2 < W < 17.0 GeV/c^2, 1.0 (GeV/c)^2 < Q^2 < 10.0 (GeV/c)^2 and 0.01 (GeV/c)^2 < p_T^2 < 0.5 (GeV/c)^2. Here, W denotes the mass of the final hadronic system, Q^2 the virtuality of the exchanged photon, and p_T the transverse momentum of the ρ ^0 meson with respect to the virtual-photon direction. The measured non-zero SDMEs for the transitions of transversely polarised virtual photons to longitudinally polarised vector mesons (γ^*_T → V^_L) indicate a violation of s-channel helicity conservation. Additionally, we observe a dominant contribution of natural-parity-exchange transitions and a very small contribution of unnatural-parity-exchange transitions, which is compatible with zero within experimental uncertainties. The results provide important input for modelling Generalised Parton Distributions (GPDs). In particular, they may allow one to evaluate in a model-dependent way the role of parton helicity-flip GPDs in exclusive ρ ^0 production.

We study the spin-exotic $J^{PC} = 1^{-+}$ amplitude in single-diffractive dissociation of 190 GeV$/c$ pions into $\pi^-\pi^-\pi^+$ using a hydrogen target and confirm the $\pi_1(1600) \to \rho(770) \pi$ amplitude, which interferes with a nonresonant $1^{-+}$ amplitude. We demonstrate that conflicting conclusions from previous studies on these amplitudes can be attributed to different analysis models and different treatment of the dependence of the amplitudes on the squared four-momentum transfer and we thus reconcile their experimental findings. We study the nonresonant contributions to the $\pi^-\pi^-\pi^+$ final state using pseudo-data generated on the basis of a Deck model. Subjecting pseudo-data and real data to the same partial-wave analysis, we find good agreement concerning the spectral shape and its dependence on the squared four-momentum transfer for the $J^{PC} = 1^{-+}$ amplitude and also for amplitudes with other $J^{PC}$ quantum numbers. We investigate for the first time the amplitude of the $\pi^-\pi^+$ subsystem with $J^{PC} = 1^{--}$ in the $3\pi$ amplitude with $J^{PC} = 1^{-+}$ employing the novel freed-isobar analysis scheme. We reveal this $\pi^-\pi^+$ amplitude to be dominated by the $\rho(770)$ for both the $\pi_1(1600)$ and the nonresonant contribution. We determine the $\rho(770)$ resonance parameters within the three-pion final state. These findings largely confirm the underlying assumptions for the isobar model used in all previous partial-wave analyses addressing the $J^{PC} = 1^{-+}$ amplitude.

Based on the observation of sizeable target-transverse-spin asymmetries in single-hadron and hadron-pair production in Semi-Inclusive measurements of Deep Inelastic Scattering (SIDIS), the chiral-odd transversity quark distribution functions h1q are nowadays well established. Several possible channels to access these functions were originally proposed. One candidate is the measurement of the polarisation of Λ hyperons produced in SIDIS off transversely polarised nucleons, where the transverse polarisation of the struck quark might be transferred to the final-state hyperon. In this article, we present the COMPASS results on the transversity-induced polarisation of Λ and Λ¯ hyperons produced in SIDIS off transversely polarised protons. Within the experimental uncertainties, no significant deviation from zero was observed. The results are discussed in the context of different models taking into account previous experimental results on h1u and h1d.

This report describes the physics case, the resulting detector requirements, and the evolving detector concepts for the experimental program at the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC). The EIC will be a powerful new high-luminosity facility in the United States with the capability to collide high-energy electron beams with high-energy proton and ion beams, providing access to those regions in the nucleon and nuclei where their structure is dominated by gluons. Moreover, polarized beams in the EIC will give unprecedented access to the spatial and spin structure of the proton, neutron, and light ions. The studies leading to this document were commissioned and organized by the EIC User Group with the objective of advancing the state and detail of the physics program and developing detector concepts that meet the emerging requirements in preparation for the realization of the EIC. The effort aims to provide the basis for further development of concepts for experimental equipment best suited for the science needs, including the importance of two complementary detectors and interaction regions. This report consists of three volumes. Volume I is an executive summary of our findings and developed concepts. In Volume II we describe studies of a wide range of physics measurements and the emerging requirements on detector acceptance and performance. Volume III discusses general-purpose detector concepts and the underlying technologies to meet the physics requirements. These considerations will form the basis for a world-class experimental program that aims to increase our understanding of the fundamental structure of all visible matter

The COMPASS Collaboration experiment recently discovered a new isovector resonancelike signal with axial-vector quantum numbers, the a_{1}(1420), decaying to f_{0}(980)π. With a mass too close to and a width smaller than the axial-vector ground state a_{1}(1260), it was immediately interpreted as a new light exotic meson, similar to the X, Y, Z states in the hidden-charm sector. We show that a resonancelike signal fully matching the experimental data is produced by the decay of the a_{1}(1260) resonance into K^{*}(→Kπ)K[over ¯] and subsequent rescattering through a triangle singularity into the coupled f_{0}(980)π channel. The amplitude for this process is calculated using a new approach based on dispersion relations. The triangle-singularity model is fitted to the partial-wave data of the COMPASS experiment. Despite having fewer parameters, this fit shows a slightly better quality than the one using a resonance hypothesis and thus eliminates the need for an additional resonance in order to describe the data. We thereby demonstrate for the first time in the light-meson sector that a resonancelike structure in the experimental data can be described by rescattering through a triangle singularity, providing evidence for a genuine three-body effect.

Hadron leptoproduction in Semi-Inclusive measurements of Deep-Inelastic Scattering (SIDIS) on unpolarised nucleons allows one to get information on the intrinsic transverse momentum of quarks in a nucleon and on the Boer-Mulders function through the measurement of azimuthal modulations in the cross section. These modulations were recently measured by the HERMES experiment at DESY on proton and deuteron targets, and by the COMPASS experiment using the CERN SPS muon beam and a 6LiD target. In both cases, the amplitudes of the cos⁡ϕh and cos⁡2ϕh modulations show strong kinematic dependences for both positive and negative hadrons. It has been known since some time that the measured final-state hadrons in those SIDIS experiments receive a contribution from exclusive diffractive production of vector mesons, particularly important at large values of z, the fraction of the virtual photon energy carried by the hadron. In previous measurements of azimuthal asymmetries this contribution was not taken into account, because it was not known that it could distort the azimuthal modulations. Presently, a method to evaluate the contribution of the exclusive reactions to the azimuthal asymmetries measured by COMPASS has been developed. The subtraction of this contribution results in a better understanding of the kinematic effects, and the remaining non-zero cos⁡2ϕh modulation gives indication for a non-zero Boer-Mulders effect.

The antiparticle-over-particle multiplicity ratio is measured in deep-inelastic scattering for negatively and positively charged kaons and, for the first time, for antiprotons and protons. The data were obtained by the COMPASS Collaboration using a 160 GeV muon beam impinging on an isoscalar 6LiD target. The regime of deep-inelastic scattering is ensured by requiring Q2 > 1 (GeV/c)2 for the photon virtuality and W>5 GeV/c2 for the invariant mass of the produced hadronic system. Bjorken-x is restricted to the range 0.01 to 0.40. Protons and antiprotons are identified in the momentum range from 20 GeV/c to 60 GeV/c and required to carry a large fraction of the virtual-photon energy, z>0.5. In the whole studied z-region, the p¯ over p multiplicity ratio is found to be below the lower limit expected from calculations based on leading-order perturbative Quantum Chromodynamics (pQCD). Kaons were previously analysed in the momentum range 12 GeV/c to 40 GeV/c. In the present analysis this range is extended up to 55 GeV/c, whereby events with larger virtual-photon energies are included in the analysis and the observed K− over K+ ratio becomes closer to the expectation of next-to-leading order pQCD. The results of both analyses strengthen our earlier conclusion that at COMPASS energies the phase space available for single-hadron production in deep-inelastic scattering should be taken into account in the standard pQCD formalism.

In Fig. 5 on p. 311 of our Phys. Lett. B 740 (2015) 303 an adjustment by 180∘ is required for the phases with respect to the L=2,M=1 wave, of the following waves: L=1,3,5 with M=1, and L=2 with M=2. After this correction (Fig. 5 (corrected) below), the extracted partial waves describe the angular distribution of the η(′) in the Gottfried-Jackson (GJ) frame, using Eq. (4) with implicit Condon-Shortley phase convention. The other results of our paper are not affected. The right-handed GJ coordinate system was defined by the z-axis pointing in the direction of the beam in the η(′)π− center-of-mass system and the y-axis pointing in the direction of precoilGJ×pbeamGJ.

The transverse spin asymmetries measured in semi-inclusive leptoproduction of hadrons, when weighted with the hadron transverse momentum $P_T$, allow for the extraction of important transverse-momentum-dependent distribution functions. In particular, the weighted Sivers asymmetries provide direct information on the Sivers function, which is a leading-twist distribution that arises from a correlation between the transverse momentum of an unpolarised quark in a transversely polarised nucleon and the spin of the nucleon. Using the high-statistics data collected by the COMPASS Collaboration in 2010 with a transversely polarised proton target, we have evaluated two types of $P_T$-weighted Sivers asymmetries, which are both proportional to the product of the firsttransverse moment of the Sivers function and of the fragmentation function. The results are compared to the standard unweighted Sivers asymmetries and used to extract the first transverse moments of the Sivers distributions for $u$ and $d$ quarks.

We report on a measurement of hard exclusive π^0 muoproduction on the proton by COMPASS using 160 GeV/c polarised μ^+ and μ^- beams of the CERN SPS impinging on a liquid hydrogen target. From the average of the measured μ^+ and μ^- cross sections, the virtual-photon proton cross section is determined as a function of the squared four-momentum transfer between initial and final proton in the range 0.08 (GeV/c)^2 < |t| < 0.64 (GeV/c)^2. The average kinematics of the measurement are ⟨ Q^2 ⟩ =2.0 (GeV/c)^2, ⟨ν⟩ = 12.8 GeV, ⟨ x_Bj⟩ = 0.093 and ⟨ -t ⟩ = 0.256 (GeV/c)^2. Fitting the azimuthal dependence reveals a combined contribution by transversely and longitudinally polarised photons of (8.1 ± 0.9_stat_- 1.0^+ 1.1|_sys) nb/(GeV/c)^2, as well as transverse-transverse and longitudinal-transverse interference contributions of (-6.0 ± 1.3_stat_- 0.7^+ 0.7|_sys) nb/(GeV/c)^2 and (1.4 ± 0.5_stat_- 0.2^+ 0.3|_sys) nb/(GeV/c)^2, respectively. Our results provide important input for modelling Generalised Parton Distributions. In the context of the phenomenological Goloskokov-Kroll model, the statistically significant transverse-transverse interference contribution constitutes clear experimental evidence for the chiral-odd GPD E_T.