CENTRAL PSEUDOSCALAR PRODUCTION IN PP SCATTERING AND THE GLUON CONTRIBUTION TO THE PROTON SPIN

Central pseudoscalar production in pp scattering is suppressed at smal l values of Q(perpendicular to), where Q is defined as the difference between the momenta transferred from the two protons. Such a behaviour is expected if the production occurs through the fusion of two vector s. Photon exchange could provide the dominant contribution at low tran sferred momenta, but we argue that an extension of the experiment coul d probe the gluon contribution to the proton spin. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.