QCD on the Light-Front

Light-front Hamiltonian theory, derived from the quantization of the QCD Lagrangian at fixed light-front time x ⁺ = x ⁰ + x ³, provides a rigorous frame-independent framework for solving nonperturbative QCD. The eigenvalues of the light-front QCD Hamiltonian H _LF predict the hadronic mass spectrum, and the corresponding eigensolutions provide the light-front wavefunctions which describe hadron structure, providing a direct connection to the QCD Lagrangian. In the semiclassical approximation the valence Fock-state wavefunctions of the light-front QCD Hamiltonian satisfy a single-variable relativistic equation of motion, analogous to the nonrelativistic radial Schrödinger equation, with an effective confining potential U which systematically incorporates the effects of higher quark and gluon Fock states. Remarkably, the potential U has a unique form of a harmonic oscillator potential if one requires that the chiral QCD action remains conformally invariant. A mass gap and the color confinement scale also arises when one extends the formalism of de Alfaro, Fubini and Furlan to light-front Hamiltonian theory. In the case of mesons, the valence Fock-state wavefunctions of H _LF for zero quark mass satisfy a single-variable relativistic equation of motion in the invariant variable \({\zeta^2=b^2_\perp x(1-x)}\) , which is conjugate to the invariant mass squared \({{M^2_{q\bar q}}}\) . The result is a nonperturbative relativistic light-front quantum mechanical wave equation which incorporates color confinement and other essential spectroscopic and dynamical features of hadron physics, including a massless pion for zero quark mass and linear Regge trajectories \({M^2(n, L, S) = 4\kappa^2( n+L +S/2)}\) with the same slope in the radial quantum number n and orbital angular momentum L. Only one mass parameter \({\kappa}\) appears. The corresponding light-front Dirac equation provides a dynamical and spectroscopic model of nucleons. The same light-front equations arise from the holographic mapping of the soft-wall model modification of AdS₅ space with a unique dilaton profile to QCD (3 + 1) at fixed light-front time. Light-front holography thus provides a precise relation between the bound-state amplitudes in the fifth dimension of AdS space and the boost-invariant light-front wavefunctions describing the internal structure of hadrons in physical space-time. We also discuss the implications of the underlying conformal template of QCD for renormalization scale-setting and the implications of light-front quantization for the value of the cosmological constant.     

Example of a Model for AdS/QFT Duality

Models of hadrons that are rooted in light-front (LF) formulation of QCD have been linked to the classical field equations in a 5-dimensional anti-de Sitter (AdS) gravitational background in terms of the Brodsky-de Téramond LF holography. We discuss the classical equations of motion for the expectation values of operators in quantum field theory whose nature resembles the Ehrenfest equations of quantum mechanics and which thus appear to provide a general justification for the holographic picture. The required expectation values are obtained by distinguishing one effective constituent of a hadron, the one that is struck by an external electro-weak or gravitational probe, and integrating over relative motion variables of all other constituents in all Fock components. The scale-dependent Fock decomposition of hadronic states is defined using the renormalization group procedure for effective particles. The AdS modes dual to the incoming and outgoing hadrons in the corresponding transition matrix elements are thus found equivalent to the Gaussian form distribution functions for the effective partons struck by external probes.     

Hadron Physics from Superconformal Quantum Mechanics and Its Light-Front Holographic Embedding

The complex nonperturbative color-confining dynamics of QCD is well captured in a semiclassical effective theory based on superconformal quantum mechanics and its extension to the light-front. I describe here how this new approach to hadron physics incorporates confinement, the appearance of nearly massless pseudoscalar particles, and Regge spectroscopy consistent with experiment. It also gives remarkable connections between the meson and baryon spectrum across the light and heavy-light hadron spectrum. I also briefly discuss how higher spin states are consistently described in this framework by the holographic embedding of the superconformal theory in a higher dimensional semiclassical gravity theory.     

New Results in Light-Front Phenomenology

The light-front quantization of gauge theories in light-cone gauge provides a frame-independent wavefunction representation of relativistic bound states, simple forms for current matrix elements, explicit unitarity, and a trivial vacuum. In this talk I review the theoretical methods and constraints which can be used to determine these central elements of QCD phenomenology. The freedom to choose the light-like quantization four-vector provides an explicitly covariant formulation of light-front quantization and can be used to determine the analytic structure of light-front wave functions and define a kinematical definition of angular momentum. The AdS/CFT correspondence of large N_C supergravity theory in higher-dimensional anti-de Sitter space with supersymmetric QCD in four-dimensional space-time has interesting implications for hadron phenomenology in the conformal limit, including an all-orders demonstration of counting rules for exclusive processes. String/gauge duality also predicts the QCD power-law behavior of light-front Fock-state hadronic wavefunctions with arbitrary orbital angular momentum at high momentum transfer. The form of these near-conformal wavefunctions can be used as an initial ansatz for a variational treatment of the light-front QCD Hamiltonian. The light-front Fock-state wavefunctions encode the bound state properties of hadrons in terms of their quark and gluon degrees of freedom at the amplitude level. The nonperturbative Fock-state wavefunctions contain intrinsic gluons, and sea quarks at any scale Q with asymmetries such as . Intrinsic charm and bottom quarks appear at large x in the light-front wavefunctions since this minimizes the invariant mass and off-shellness of the higher Fock state. In the case of nuclei, the Fock state expansion contains “hidden color” states which cannot be classified in terms of nucleonic degrees of freedom. I also briefly review recent analyses which show that some leading-twist phenomena such as the diffractive component of deep inelastic scattering, single-spin asymmetries, nuclear shadowing and antishadowing cannot be computed from the LFWFs of hadrons in isolation.Work supported by Department of Energy contract DE-AC02-76SF00515     

AdS/QCD and Applications of Light-Front Holography

Light-front holography leads to a rigorous connection between hadronic amplitudes in a higher dimensional anti-de Sitter(AdS) space and frame-independent light-front wavefunctions of hadrons in(3 + 1)-dimensional physical space-time,thus providing a compelling physical interpretation of the AdS/CFT correspondence principle and AdS/QCD,a useful framework which describes the correspondence between theories in a modified AdS 5 background and confining field theories in physical space-time.To a first semiclassical approximation,where quantum loops and quark masses are not included,this approach leads to a single-variable light-front Schro¨dinger equation which determines the eigenspectrum and the light-front wavefunctions of hadrons for general spin and orbital angular momentum.The coordinate z in AdS space is uniquely identified with a Lorentz-invariant coordinate ζ which measures the separation of the constituents within a hadron at equal light-front time.The internal structure of hadrons is explicitly introduced and the angular momentum of the constituents plays a key role.We give an overview of the light-front holographic approach to strongly coupled QCD.In particular,we study the photon-to-meson transition form factors(TFFs) FMγ(Q 2) for γ→ M using light-front holographic methods.The results for the TFFs for the η and η ' mesons are also presented.Some novel features of QCD are discussed,including the consequences of confinement for quark and gluon condensates.A method for computing the hadronization of quark and gluon jets at the amplitude level is outlined.     

Parton physics from large-momentum effective field theory

Parton physics,when formulated as light-front correlations,are difficult to study non-perturbatively,despite the promise of lightfront quantization.Recently an alternative approach to partons have been proposed by re-visiting original Feynman picture of a hadron moving at asymptotically large momentum.Here I formulate the approach in the language of an effective field theory for a large hadron momentum P in lattice QCD,LaMET for short.I show that using this new effective theory,parton properties,including light-front parton wave functions,can be extracted from lattice observables in a systematic expansion of 1/P,much like that the parton distributions can be extracted from the hard scattering data at momentum scales of a few GeV.     

Light-Front Holography,Color Confinement,and Supersymmetric Features of QCD

Light-Front Quantization—Dirac’s “Front Form”—provides a physical, frame-independent formalism for hadron dynamics and structure. Observables such as structure functions, transverse momentum distributions, and distribution amplitudes are defined from the hadronic light-front wavefunctions. One obtains new insights into the hadronic spectrum, light-front wavefunctions, and the functional form of the QCD running coupling in the nonperturbative domain using light-front holography—the duality between the front form and AdS₅, the space of isometries of the conformal group. In addition, superconformal algebra leads to remarkable supersymmetric relations between mesons and baryons of the same parity. The mass scale \({\kappa}\) underlying confinement and hadron masses can be connected to the parameter \({\Lambda_{\overline {MS}}}\) in the QCD running coupling by matching the nonperturbative dynamics, as described by the effective conformal theory mapped to the light-front and its embedding in AdS space, to the perturbative QCD regime. The result is an effective coupling defined at all momenta. This matching of the high and low momentum transfer regimes determines a scale Q₀ which sets the interface between perturbative and nonperturbative hadron dynamics. The use of Q₀ to resolve the factorization scale uncertainty for structure functions and distribution amplitudes, in combination with the principle of maximal conformality for setting the renormalization scales, can greatly improve the precision of perturbative QCD predictions for collider phenomenology. The absence of vacuum excitations of the causal, frame-independent front form vacuum has important consequences for the cosmological constant. I also discuss evidence that the antishadowing of nuclear structure functions is non-universal; i.e., flavor dependent, and why shadowing and antishadowing phenomena may be incompatible with the momentum and other sum rules for nuclear parton distribution functions.     

Hadron spectroscopy and structure from AdS/CFT

The AdS/CFT correspondence between conformal field theory and string states in an extended space-time has provided new insights into not only hadron spectra, but also their light-front wave functions. We show that there is an exact correspondence between the fifth-dimensional coordinate of anti-de Sitter space z and a specific impact variable ζ which measures the separation of the constituents within the hadron in ordinary space-time. This connection allows one to predict the form of the light-front wave functions of mesons and baryons, the fundamental entities which encode hadron properties and scattering amplitudes. A new relativistic Schr?dinger light-front equation is found which reproduces the results obtained using the fifth-dimensional theory. Since they are complete and orthonormal, the AdS/CFT model wave functions can be used as an initial ansatz for a variational treatment or as a basis for the diagonalization of the light-front QCD Hamiltonian. A number of applications of light-front wave functions are also discussed.     

On soft gluon emission and the transverse momentum properties of final state particles

We discuss the infrared problem in a theory with confined quarks and gluons. In QED, the infrared cutoff depends on the adjustable experimental energy resolution. For QCD, the physical observables of the asymptotic final state are the hadron momenta whereas the gluon momenta do not correspond to observable quantities. Thus the energy resolution of a “gluon detector” is determined by the hadronic mass scale. In particular, we study the effect of soft gluon emission on the transverse momentum of the hadrons.     

核子(强子)结构和性质的QCD研究

核子 (强子 )是夸克、胶子的束缚态 ,由量子色动力学 QCD描述。由于 QCD的基本特性(高能标度下的渐近自由、低能标度下色禁闭及动力学手征对称性破缺 ) ,对核子 (强子 )结构和性质的 QCD图象是标度相关的 .在高能标度下描述强子的是与探测强子结构的硬过程相联系的QCD部分子模型 .强子的夸克、胶子结构信息通过 QCD部分子求和规则得到 .QCD微扰论是适用的理论 .在低能标度时 ,必须发展 QCD非微扰途径来描述核子 (强子 )物理 .这里简要地讨论各种非微扰途径 (格点 QCD、Dyson- Schwinger方程、有效场论、QCD求和规则 )的某些结果和进展 ,并指出 QCD真空结构在描述低能标度下强子物理中担任重要角色 . The nucleon (hadron) is the bound state of guarks and gluons, which is described by the quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Due to the basic properties of QCD (the asymptotic freedom at the high energy scale, the color confinement and the dynamical chiral symmetry breaking at the low energy scale), the QCD picture for the nucleon’s (hadron’s) structure and property is scale dependent. At high energy scale, the QCD parton model, which is relative to the hard process for testing the...     

Identifying multiquark hadrons from heavy ion collisions

Identifying hadronic molecular states and/or hadrons with multiquark components either with or without exotic quantum numbers is a long-standing challenge in hadronic physics. We suggest that studying the production of these hadrons in relativistic heavy ion collisions offers a promising resolution to this problem as yields of exotic hadrons are expected to be strongly affected by their structures. Using the coalescence model for hadron production, we find that, compared to the case of a nonexotic hadron with normal quark numbers, the yield of an exotic hadron is typically an order of magnitude smaller when it is a compact multiquark state and a factor of 2 or more larger when it is a loosely bound hadronic molecule. We further find that some of the newly proposed heavy exotic states could be produced and realistically measured in these experiments.     

Looking into the Matter of Light-Quark Hadrons

In tackling QCD, a constructive feedback between theory and extant and forthcoming experiments is necessary in order to place constraints on the infrared behaviour of QCD’s β-function, a key nonperturbative quantity in hadron physics. The Dyson–Schwinger equations provide a tool with which to work toward this goal. They connect confinement with dynamical chiral symmetry breaking, both with the observable properties of hadrons, and hence can plausibly provide a means of elucidating the material content of real-world QCD. This contribution illustrates these points via comments on: in-hadron condensates; dressed-quark anomalous chromo- and electro-magnetic moments; the spectra of mesons and baryons, and the critical role played by hadron-hadron interactions in producing these spectra.     

D0-branes as light-front confined quarks

We argue that different aspects of light-front QCD at the confined phase can be recovered by the matrix quantum mechanics of D0-branes. The relevant matrix quantum mechanics is obtained from dimensional reduction of pure Yang–Mills theory to dimension 0+1. The aspects of QCD dynamics which are studied in correspondence with D0-branes are: (1) phenomenological inter-quark potentials, (2) the whiteness of hadrons and (3) scattering amplitudes. In addition, some other issues such as the large-N behavior, the gravity–gauge theory relation and also a possible justification for involving “non-commutative coordinates” in the study of QCD bound states are discussed. Received: 12 January 2001 / Published online: 6 April 2001     

Light-Front Field Theory of Hot and Dense Quark Matter

Extending the concepts of light-front field theory to quantum statistics provides a novel approach towards nuclear matter under extreme conditions. Such conditions exist, e.g., in neutron stars or in the early stage of our universe. They are experimentally expected to occur in heavy ion collisions, e.g., at RHIC and accelerators to be built at GSI and CERN. Light-front field theory is particularly suited, since it is based on a relativistic Hamiltonian approach. It allows us to treat the perturbative as well as the nonperturbative regime of QCD and also correlations that emerge as a field of few-body physics and is important for hadronization. Last but not least the Hamiltonian approach is useful for nonequilibrium processes by utilizing, e.g., the formalism of nonequilibrium statistical operators.     

Hypothesis of Quark Binding by Condensation of Gluons in Hadrons

Hypothesis of quark binding through condensation of gluons inside hadrons is formulated in the context of a renormalization group procedure for effective particles (RGPEP) in the light-front (LF) Hamiltonian approach to QCD. At the momentum scales of relative motion of hadronic constituents that are comparable with Λ _QCD , the hypothetical boost-invariant constituent dynamics is identified using gauge symmetry. The resulting picture of mesons and baryons closely resembles constituent quark models with harmonic oscillator potentials, shares some features of AdS/QCD, and can be systematically studied using RGPEP in QCD.     

阈效应和奇特强子态信号

综述了量子色动力学奇特强子态研究中的一些热点问题,特别强调了有效理论研究强子分子态可以合理考虑阈效应和“三角奇异性”对近阈奇特强子态性质的重要影响,综合分析这些可能的机制可以帮助我们更好地理解强子谱。