Transversity 2008: Proceedings of the Second Workshop on Transverse Polarization Phenomena in Hard Processes

Transversity 2008, the second workshop on “Transverse polarization phenomena in hard processes” follows the first one held in Como after three years. As in that case, the event comes at the end of a two-years project financed by the Italian Ministry of Education.In the time between the two Workshops, decisive steps towards the revealing of the transverse spin structure of the proton were taken on both the theoretical and experimental sides.The milestone of the first extraction of Transversity and the Sivers function for the u- and d-quarks deserves a special mention. In the same period, historic experiments that in the last decade contributed to the first pioneering measurements in the SIDIS sector, have concluded their data taking, and their place is being taken by upgrades of existing or new facilities. These are the result of the new interesting phenomena which are appearing and call for additional experimental information and novel experimental techniques.Over 80 physicists took part in the Workshop. Equally involved were experimentalists and theoreticians engaged in investigating the nature of transverse spin. The heterogeneous public favoured vivid discussions and fruitful exchange of up-to-date theoretical and experimental ideas on this constantly evolving subject.