Evidence for Quark-Hadron Duality in the Proton Spin Asymmetry A_1

Spin-dependent lepton-nucleon scattering data have been used to investigate the validity of the concept of quark-hadron duality for the spin asymmetry A_1. Longitudinally polarized positrons were scattered off a longitudinally polarized hydrogen target for values of Q^2 between 1.2 and 12 GeV^2 and values of W^2 between 1 and 4 GeV^2. The average double-spin asymmetry in the nucleon resonance region is found to agree with that measured in deep-inelastic scattering at the same values of the Bjorken scaling variable x. This finding implies that the description of A_1 in terms of quark degrees of freedom is valid also in the nucleon resonance region for values of Q^2 above 1.6 GeV^2