Final-state interactions and single-spin asymmetries in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering

Recent measurements from the HERMES and SMC Collaborations show a remarkably large azimuthal single-spin asymmetries A_UL and A_UT of the proton in semi-inclusive pion leptoproduction γ^*(q)p→πX. We show that final-state interactions from gluon exchange between the outgoing quark and the target spectator system lead to single-spin asymmetries in deep inelastic lepton–proton scattering at leading twist in perturbative QCD; i.e., the rescattering corrections are not power-law suppressed at large photon virtuality Q² at fixed x_bj. The existence of such single-spin asymmetries requires a phase difference between two amplitudes coupling the proton target with J^z_p=±1/2 to the same final-state, the same amplitudes which are necessary to produce a nonzero proton anomalous magnetic moment. We show that the exchange of gauge particles between the outgoing quark and the proton spectators produces a Coulomb-like complex phase which depends on the angular momentum L^z of the proton's constituents and is thus distinct for different proton spin amplitudes. The single-spin asymmetry which arises from such final-state interactions does not factorize into a product of distribution function and fragmentation function, and it is not related to the transversity distribution δq(x,Q) which correlates transversely polarized quarks with the spin of the transversely polarized target nucleon.