Measurement of the spin dependent structure function of the nucleon at SMC (Spin Muon Collaboration)

This dissertation presents the complete and final results for the spin dependent structure functions for the proton and the deuteron from the Spin Muon Collaboration (SMC) experiment at CERN. The experiment used polarized high energy muon scattering from polarized proton and deuteron targets, in order to measure the muon-proton and muon- deuteron cross section asymmetries. From these measurements one obtains the virtual photon absorption cross section asymmetries for the proton and the deuteron. Using results from unpolarized scattering experiments the spin dependent structure functions for the proton and deuteron are achieved. In order to compare our results with theoretical predictions, which are the Bjorken sum rule and the Ellis- Jaffe sum rule, a QCD evolution procedure is used. The results of the comparison of our results with these sum rules is presented.