The tensor charge of the nucleon, which will be measured in Drell-Yan
processes in polarized proton–proton collisions at the RHIC, is studied
in a quenched lattice QCD simulation. On the 163 ×
20 lattice with β = 5·7, connected parts of the tensor
charge are determined with small statistical error, while the disconnected
parts are found to be small with relatively large error bars. The
flavour-singlet tensor charge (δΣ =
du +
δd + δs) is not
suppressed, as opposed to the flavour-singlet axial charge (ΔΣ
= Δu + Δd
+ Δs).