Semi-Inclusive Deep Inelastic Scattering on Transversely Polarized Neutrons Using the BigBite and Super BigBite Spectrometers in Jefferson Lab's Hall A

Transverse target single-spin asymmetries (SSAs) in the single-hadron semi-inclusive lepton-nucleon deep inelastic scattering (SIDIS) process have attracted increasing attention since the discovery of non-zero Collins and Sivers effects in SIDIS on transversely polarized protons by the HERMES and COMPASS collaborations about a decade ago. Qualitatively, the Collins effect measures the correlation between the transverse polarization of the struck quark and that of the target nucleon, while the Sivers effect measures the correlation between the transverse momentum of the struck quark and that of the target nucleon. To go beyond initial exploration and discovery of these effects to precision measurement and detailed mapping of the asymmetries requires high-luminosity facilities with high-performance polarized targets and excellent particle detection, tracking, and identification capabilities. Experiment E12-09-018 was approved by the Jefferson Lab Program Advisory Committee for 64 days of beam time to measure SIDIS SSAs on a high-luminosity polarized helium-3 target in JLab's Hall A, using the newly constructed Super BigBite Spectrometer for hadron detection, and the upgraded BigBite spectrometer for electron detection. In this talk, I will present an overview of the experiment, its status, and its expected physics results.