Polarized electron-nucleon scattering at TESLA

Measurements of polarized electron-nucleon scattering can be realized at the TESLA linear collider facility with projected luminosities that are about two orders of magnitude higher than those expected of other experiments at comparable energies. Longitudinally polarized electrons, accelerated as a small fraction of the total current in the e(+) arm of TESLA, can be directed onto a solid state target that may be either longitudinally or transversely polarized. A large variety of polarized parton distribution and fragmentation functions can be determined with unprecedented accuracy, many of them for the first time. A main goal of the experiment is the precise measurement of the x-and Q(2)-dependence of the unknown transversity distributions that will provide us with the full information on the nucleon's quark spin structure as relevant for high energy processes. Comparing their Q(2)-evolution to that of the corresponding helicity distributions constitutes an important precision test of the predictive power of QCD in the spin sector. The additional possibilities of using unpolarized targets and of experiments with a real photon beam turn TESLA-N into a versatile next-generation facility at the intersection of particle and nuclear physics.