Proton spin puzzle: Research reveals gluons make a significant contribution to spin

Results from experiments at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), a particle collider located at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, reveal new insights about how quarks and gluons, the subatomic building blocks of protons, contribute to the proton's intrinsic angular momentum, a property more commonly known as "spin." Specifically, the findings show for the first time that gluons make a significant contribution to proton spin, and that transient "sea quarks"—which form primarily when gluons split—also play a role.

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