Polarized structure functions in a constituent quark scenario

Using a simple picture of the constituent quark as a composite system of po int-like partons, we construct the polarized parton distributions by a conv olution between constituent quark momentum distributions and constituent qu ark structure functions. Using unpolarized data to fix the parameters we ac hieve good agreement with the polarization experiments for the proton, whil e not so for the neutron. By relaxing our assumptions for the sea distribut ions, we define new quark functions for the polarized case, which reproduce well the proton data and are in better agreement with the neutron data. Wh en our results are compared with similar calculations using non-composite c onstituent quarks the accord with the experiments of the present scheme is impressive. We conclude that, also in the polarized case, DIS data are cons istent with a low energy scenario dominated by composite constituents of th e nucleon. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.