On the Oscillations of the Tensor Spin Structure Function

The tensor polarization is known to be the specific property of the particles with spin larger than 1 2 . The deuteron is one of the most fundamental spin-1 particles, and the effects of its tensor polarization are intensively studied at low and intermediate energies. Such effects should also be manifested for deep inelastic scattering (DIS) off deuteron target, resulting in the new structure functions [1, 2, 3]. The DIS off longitudinally polarized deuterons have recently been studied by the Spin Muon Collaboration in order to extract the neutron spin structure function g 1 [4]. The longitudinally polarized deuteron target automatically receives the tensor polarization as well, except the very special case when the probability of zero spin projection is just 1/3. It allows, in principle, the tensor polarization effects to be studied by using the same data. In this report, the simple description of the tensor polarization in DIS is presented. We also remind and generalize a rather old result [2]; namely, the quark contribution to the tensor spin structure function should manifest the oscillating behavior. Its experimental study would allow one to discriminate between the deuteron components with different spins. The inclusive differential cross section for the DIS off spin-1 target has the form: