Measurement of the spin asymmetry in the photoproduction of pairs of high-pT hadrons at HERMES

We present a measurement of the longitudinal spin asymmetry A|| in photoproduction of pairs of hadrons with high transverse momentum pT. Data were accumulated by the HERMES experiment using a 27.5 GeV polarized positron beam and a polarized hydrogen target internal to the HERA storage ring. For h^+h^- pairs with _(pT)^(h1)>1.5GeV/c and _(pT)^(h2)>1.0GeV/c, the measured asymmetry is A_(||) = -0.28±0.12(stat)±0.02(syst). This negative value is in contrast to the positive asymmetries typically measured in deep inelastic scattering from protons, and is interpreted to arise from a positive gluon polarization.