Measurement of the x- and Q2-dependence of the asymmetry A1 on the nucleon

We report results for the virtual photon asymmetry A{sub 1} on the nucleon from new Jefferson Lab measurements. The experiment, which used the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer and longitudinally polarized proton ({sup 15}NH{sub 3}) and deuteron ({sup 15}ND{sub 3}) targets, collected data with a longitudinally polarized electron beam at energies between 1.6 GeV and 5.7 GeV. In the present paper, we concentrate on our results for A{sub 1}(x,Q{sup 2}) and the related ratio g{sub 1}/F{sub 1}(x,Q{sup 2}) in the resonance and the deep inelastic regions for our lowest and highest beam energies, covering a range in momentum transfer Q{sup 2} from 0.05 to 5.0 GeV{sup 2} and in final-state invariant mass W up to about 3 GeV. Our data show detailed structure in the resonance region, which leads to a strong Q{sup 2}--dependence of A{sub 1}(x,Q{sup 2}) for W below 2 GeV. At higher W, a smooth approach to the scaling limit, established by earlier experiments, can be seen, but A{sub 1}(x,Q{sup 2}) is not strictly Q{sup 2}--independent. We add significantly to the world data set at high x, up to x = 0.6. Our data exceed the SU(6)-symmetric quark model expectation for both the proton and the deuteron whilemore » being consistent with a negative d-quark polarization up to our highest x. This data set should improve next-to-leading order (NLO) pQCD fits of the parton polarization distributions.« less