Deuteron polarizations in proton-deuteron Drell-Yan process for finding gluon transversity

The gluon transversity distribution in the deuteron is defined by the matrix element between linearly-polarized deuteron states, and it could be investigated in proton-deuteron collisions in addition to lepton-deuteron scattering. The linear polarization of photon is often used, whereas it is rarely used for the spin-1 deuteron. Therefore, it is desirable to express deuteron-reaction cross sections in term of conventional deuteron spin polarizations for actual experimental measurements. In this work, we investigate how proton-deuteron Drell-Yan cross sections are expressed by the conventional polarizations for finding the gluon transversity distribution. In particular, we show that the gluon transversity can be measured in the proton-deuteron Drell-Yan process by taking the cross-section difference between the deuteron spin polarizations along the two-transverse axes. Since the gluon transversity does not exist for the spin-1/2 nucleons, a finite gluon transversity of the deuteron could indicate an ``exotic" mechanism beyond the simple bound system of the nucleons in the deuteron. Therefore, the gluon transversity is an interesting and appropriate observable to shed light on a new hadronic mechanism in nuclei.