Compton scattering and the spin structure of the nucleon at low energies

We analyze polarized Compton scattering which provides information on the spin-structure of the nucleon. For scattering processes with photon energies up to 100 MeV the spin-structure dependence can be encoded into four independent parameters---the so-called spin-polarizabilities γᵢ, i=1,,4, of the nucleon, which we calculate within the framework of the ``small scale expansion'' in SU(2) baryon chiral perturbation theory. Specific application is made to ``forward'' and ``backward'' spin-polarizabilities.