Asymmetries in the production of final state particles from collider or fixed-target experiments with polarized beams or target could provide valuable information on the spin structure of the nucleon. Transverse and longitudinal spin asymmetry measurements are complementary approaches for probing the nucleon spin structure functions and understanding the QCD dynamics for such phenomena, due to the non-commutative nature of boosts and rotations in relativistic regime. The research presented in this thesis focuses on characterizing the Transverse Single Spin Asymmetries (TSSA) of inclusive pi0 and jet productions in polarized proton collisions at large Feynman (xF) region. Theoretically these observables are explained by means of collinear twist-3 multi-parton correlations. In this picture the asymmetries originate from initial-state twist-3 parton distributions in the polarized proton and/or through the coupling between proton's initial-state transversity distribution and the final-state twist-3 fragmentation functions. The measurement of SSA for forward inclusive pi0 produced in pp collisions up to high transverse momentum helps examine the validity and interplay of these initial- and final-state models. These models can be further explored by investigating the dependence of the TSSA on event topologies. This thesis presents the STAR measurement of TSSA for forward inclusive pi0 at $2.8

This book is devoted to the theory and phenomenology of transverse-spin effects in high-energy hadronic physics. Contrary to common past belief, it is now rather clear that such effects are far from irrelevant. A decade or so of intense theoretical work has shed much light on the subject and brought to surface an entire class of new phenomena, which now await thorough experimental investigation. Over the next few years a number of experiments world-wide (at BNL, CERN, DESY and JLAB) will run with transversely polarised beams and targets, providing data that will enrich our knowledge of the transverse-spin structure of hadrons. It is therefore timely to assess the state of the art, and this is the principal aim of the volume.An outline of the book is as follows. After a few introductory remarks (Chapter 1), attention is directed in Chapter 2 to transversely polarised deeply-inelastic scattering (DIS), which probes the transverse spin structure function 2. This existing data are reviewed and discussed (for completeness, a brief presentation of longitudinally polarised DIS is also provided). In Chapter 3 the transverse-spin structure of the proton is illustrated in detail, with emphasis on the transversity distribution and the twist-three parton distribution contributing to g2. Model calculations of these quantities are also presented. In Chapter 4, the QCD evolution of transversity is studied at leading and next-to-leading order. Chapter 5 illustrates the g2 structure function and its related sum rules within the framework of perturbative QCD. The last three chapters are devoted to the phenomenology of transversity, in the context of Drell-Yan processes (Chapter 6), inclusive leptoproduction (Chapter 7) and inclusive hadroproduction (Chapter 8). The interpretation of some recent single-spin asymmetry data is discussed and the prospects for future measurements are reviewed.

We report precision measurements of the Feynman-x (x{sub F}) dependence, and first measurements of the transverse momentum (p{sub T}) dependence, of transverse single spin asymmetries for the production of [pi]° mesons from polarized proton collisions at √s = 200 GeV. The x{sub F} dependence of the results are in fair agreement with perturbative QCD (pQCD) model calculations that identify orbital motion of quarks and gluons within the proton as the origin of the spin effects. Results for the p{sub T} dependence at fixed x{sub F} are not consistent with these same pQCD-based calculations.

Twenty years of polarized lepton-nucleon scattering experiments have found that the contribution from quark spins (1/2[delta] [sigma]) to the spin of the proton is only ~ 35%. This has lead researchers to look elsewhere, specifically to gluon spin ([delta sigma]) for a large contribution to proton spin. [delta sigma] has been only loosely constrained in polarized DIS and SIDIS experiments. Polarized proton-proton collisions at RHIC provide sensitivity to [delta sigma] through measurements of the longitudinal double-spin asymmetry, ALL. This work presents a measurement of ALL for inclusive 7ro production in polarized proton-proton collisions using the STAR detector and data from RHIC Run 6. 7r0s are abundantly produced at mid-rapidity in proton-proton collisions, making them natural candidates for studies of [delta] [sigma]. Novel techniques for reconstructing 7ros at STAR are discussed, and a measurement of the unpolarized cross section presented. Finally, the measured ALL is compared to perturbative QCD predictions and from this comparison constraints are placed on [delta] [sigma].