Abstract: | We report on the first measurement of double-spin asymmetry, A_LL, of
electrons from the decays of hadrons containing heavy flavor in longitudinally
polarized p+p collisions at sqrt(s)=200 GeV for p_T= 0.5 to 3.0 GeV/c. The
asymmetry was measured at mid-rapidity (|eta|<0.35) with the PHENIX detector at
the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The measured asymmetries are consistent
with zero within the statistical errors. We obtained a constraint for the
polarized gluon distribution in the proton of |Delta g/g(log{_10}x=
-1.6^+0.5_-0.4, {mu}=m_T^c)|^2 < 0.033 (1 sigma), based on a leading-order
perturbative-quantum-chromodynamics model, using the measured asymmetry. |