Transverse-spin physics in QCD spin physics has been very active and rapidly
developing in the last few years. Recent studies haverevealed that the
transverse-spin physics are closely related to many fundamental properties of
the QCD dynamics: such as the factorization, and the non-trivial universality of
the parton distribution and fragmentation functions. Current theoretical efforts
aim at a better conceptual understanding of these phenomena, and their deep
connection with the spin-orbital correlation of the partons inside the nucleon.
Meanwhile, there have also been tremendous experimental efforts around the
world to study the transverse spin physics, such as the deep inelastic
experiments from the HERMES collaboration at DESY, SMC and COMPASS at CERN, and Hall A and
CLAS at JLab, the proton-proton scattering experiment from RHIC at Brookhaven,
and the very relevant $e^+e^-$ annihilation experiment from BELLE at KEK.
We believe that this is a good time to bring together the theorists and
experimentalists of this field to review and discuss the current theoretical
status and the latest experimental results. The comparison of all the relevant
experimental results will be extremely helpful for understanding the underlying
physics. The interactions between theorists and experimentalists should be
important for identifying and discussing key observables, and so to shape the
further program with transverse polarization.
It has been a tradition that our community have an international workshop on
transverse spin physics every year. We hope that the transversity workshop at
Beijing in 2008 will be another opportunity for us to enjoy and share the
excitement of the experimental and theoretical progress in recent years.
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