Role of the Delta (1232) in DIS on polarized $^3$He and extraction of the neutron spin structure function $g_{1}^{n}(x,Q^2)$

Abstract

We consider the effect of the transitions $n \to Δ^{0}$ and $p \to Δ^{+}$ in deep inelastic scattering on polarized $^3$He on the extraction of the neutron spin structure function $g_{1}^{n}(x,Q^2)$. Making the natural assumption that these transitions are the dominant non-nucleonic contributions to the renormalization of the axial vector coupling constant in the A=3 system, we find that the effect of $Δ$ increases $g_{1}^{n}(x,Q^2)$ by $10 ÷40$% in the range $0.05 \le x \le 0.6$, where our considerations are applicable and most of the data for $g_{1}^{n}(x,Q^2)$ exist.

23 pages, 6 figures, revtex