Determination of polarized parton distribution functions and their uncertainties

Abstract

We investigate the polarized parton distribution functions (PDFs) and their uncertainties by using the world data on the spin asymmetry A_1. The uncertainties of the polarized PDFs are estimated by the Hessian method. The up and down valence-quark distributions are determined well. However, the antiquark distributions have large uncertainties at this stage, and it is particularly difficult to fix the gluon distribution. The \chi^2 analysis produces a positively polarized gluon distribution, but even \Delta g(x)=0 could be allowed according to our uncertainty estimation. In comparison with the previous AAC (Asymmetry Analysis Collaboration) parameterization in 2000, accurate SLAC-E155 proton data are added to the analysis. We find that the E155 data improve the determination of the polarized PDFs, especially the polarized antiquark distributions. In addition, the gluon-distribution uncertainties are reduced due to the correlation with the antiquark distributions. We also show the global analysis results with the condition \Delta g(x)=0 at the initial scale, Q^2=1 GeV^2, for clarifying the error correlation effects with the gluon distribution.

Comments: 9 pages, 15 eps figures, REVTeX, FORTRAN package is available at the web site http://www-hs.phys.saga-u.ac.jp/aac.html. Replaced 3 eps figures in Fig.2