Longitudinal double-spin asymmetry $A_1^{\rm p}$ and spin-dependent structure function $g_1^{\rm p}$ of the proton at small values of $x$ and $Q^2$

Abstract We present a precise measurement of the proton longitudinal double-spin asymmetry A 1 p and the proton spin-dependent structure function g 1 p at photon virtualities 0.006 ( GeV / c ) 2 Q 2 1 ( GeV / c ) 2 in the Bjorken x range of 4 × 10 − 5 x 4 × 10 − 2 . The results are based on data collected by the COMPASS Collaboration at CERN using muon beam energies of 160 GeV and 200 GeV . The statistical precision is more than tenfold better than that of the previous measurement in this region. In the whole range of x , the measured values of A 1 p and g 1 p are found to be positive. It is for the first time that spin effects are found at such low values of x .