Transverse spin structure of the nucleon from lattice-QCD simulations

We present the first calculation in lattice QCD of the lowest two moments of transverse spin densities of quarks in the nucleon. They encode correlations between quark spin and orbital angular momentum. Our dynamical simulations are based on two flavors of clover-improved Wilson fermions and Wilson gluons. We find significant contributions from certain quark helicity flip generalized parton distributions, leading to strongly distorted densities of transversely polarized quarks in the nucleon. In particular, based on our results and recent arguments by Burkardt [Phys. Rev. D 72, 094020 (2005)], we predict that the Boer-Mulders function h(1/1), describing correlations of transverse quark spin and intrinsic transverse momentum of quarks, is large and negative for both up and down quarks.     

Proton Spin Sum Rule from Large Momentum Effective Field Theory

In high energy scattering experiments, the proton spin is understood as the sum of the spin and orbital angular momentum of the quarks and gluons in Feynman’s parton picture. The Jaffe–Manohar form of the proton spin sum rule is justified as physical, and it is shown that the individual terms can be related to the proton matrix elements of certain quasi-obervables through a large momentum effective field theory. The relation is expressed as a factorization formula where the leading contribution to the quasi-observable is factorized into the parton observables and perturbative matching coefficients, and we present the results for the latter at one-loop order in perturbation theory. This will provide us with the basis to extract the proton spin content from the lattice QCD calculations of the quasi-observables.     

Quark and Gluon Orbital Angular Momentum: Where Are We?

The orbital angular momentum of quarks and gluons contributes significantly to the proton spin budget and attracted a lot of attention in the recent years, both theoretically and experimentally. We summarize the various definitions of parton orbital angular momentum together with their relations with parton distributions functions. In particular, we highlight current theoretical puzzles and give some prospects.     

Large sea polarisation in quantum chromodynamics

The spin structure of sea quarks and gluons is obtained by using QCD evolution equations and the angular momentum sum rule. Several consequences of the predicted large polarisations are enumerated.     

Leading logarithmic approximation in QCD

The leading logarithmic approximation (LLA) for the scattering amplitudes in QCD is reviewed. The double-logarithmic asymptotics of scattering amplitudes is obtained as a solution to nonlinear evolution equations in the infrared cutoff. The DGLAP equation describes an evolution of parton distributions with increasing parton virtuality. The evolution of the amplitudes with respect to the scale in the longitudinal subspace is given by the BFKL equation. The gluon and quarks in QCD lie on the Regge trajectories calculable in perturbation theory. Mesons and baryons are composite states of Reggeized quarks. Similarly the Pomeron and Odderon are colorless ground states of Reggeized gluons. In the case of multicolor QCD, the Reggeon field theory in LLA is completely integrable. The Reggeon interactions in QCD are derived from a gauge-invariant effective action. In particular, next-to-leading corrections to the BFKL equation in QCD and in supersymmetric gauge models are obtained in this way.     

Challenges in uncovering the origin of the proton's spin

One of the most fascinating challenges facing modern strong interaction physics is to understand the origin of the spin of the nucleon in terms of the spin and orbital angular momentum of the quarks and gluons. We review recent progress on this problem as well as some of the uncertainties associated with state of the art lattice QCD simulations. In particular, we explain the importance of the corrections associated with chiral extrapolation and finite volume corrections, especially for the term B(0) extracted from the appropriate low moment of the deeply virtual Compton scattering amplitude.     

Sensitivity of dilepton angular distributions to the gluon spin

Previous work on properties of dilepton angular distributions which are independent of parton distribution functions is extended to include scalar gluons. For moderate dilepton transverse momentum and large mass, the three measurable coefficients are quite sensitive to the gluon spin. Results are presented for both the annihilation and Compton scattering processes.     

Exclusive meson production at HERMES

The exclusive electroproduction of pseudoscalar and vector mesons was studied with the HERMES spectrometer at the DESY laboratory by scattering 27.6 GeV positron and electron beams off a transversely polarized hydrogen target.The results are compared to calculations based on generalized parton distributions,some of which are sensitive to the contribution of the total angular momentum of the quarks to the proton spin.     

Recent results from the HERMES experiment

Results are presented from the Hermes experiment which uses semi-inclusive deep inelastic lepton scattering to study the flavor structure of the nucleon. Data have been accumulated for pion and kaon double spin asymmetries, single-spin azimuthal asymmetries for meson electroproduction, deep virtual Compton scattering (DVCS), and meson multiplicities. These results provide information on the properties of the strange sea in the proton, constraints on transverse momentum dependent quark parton distributions, and demonstrate the promise of DVCS for isolating the total angular momentum carried by the quarks in the proton.     

Meson polarized distribution function and mass dependence of the nucleon parton densities

The polarized distribution functions of mesons,including pion,kaon and eta,using the proton structure function,are calculated.We are looking for a relationship between the polarized distribution of mesons and the polarized structure of nucleons.We show that the meson polarized parton distributions leads to zero total spin for the concerned mesons,considering the orbital angular momentum of quarks and gluons inside the meson.Two separate Monte Carlo algorithms are applied to compute the polarized parton distributions of the kaon.Via the mass dependence of quark distributions,the distribution function of the eta meson is obtained.A new method by which the polarized sea quark distributions of protons are evolved separately-which cannot be performed easily using the standard solution of DGLAP equations-is introduced.The mass dependence of these distributions is obtained,using the renormalization group equation which makes their evolutions more precise.Comparison between the evolved distributions and the available experimental data validates the suggested solutions for separated evolutions.     

Some numerical studies of the evolution of generalized parton distributions

We study the evolution behavior of generalized parton distributions at small longitudinal momentum fraction. Particular attention is paid to the ratio of a generalized parton distribution and its forward limit, to the mixing between quarks and gluons, and to the dependence on the squared momentum transfer t.     

动力学部分子模型在核子和冷核物质中的应用

本工作研究了自由核子和冷原子核物质的动力学产生的海夸克和胶子分布。在动力学部分子模型中,所有的海夸克和胶子纯粹来自DGLAP方程描述的QCD涨落过程,而较少的固有海夸克成分忽略不计。在$Q_0^2\sim 0.1$ GeV2标度,选择最大熵方法估计的三价夸克分布作为非微扰输入。使用了在低$Q^2$(本工作研究了自由核子和冷原子核物质的动力学产生的海夸克和胶子分布。在动力学部分子模型中,所有的海夸克和胶子纯粹来自DGLAP方程描述的QCD涨落过程,而较少的固有海夸克成分忽略不计。在$Q_0^2\sim 0.1$ GeV2标度,选择最大熵方法估计的三价夸克分布作为非微扰输入。使用了在低$Q^2$($<1$ GeV2)下饱和的跑动强耦合常数。关于原子核效应,考虑了核子变胖和部分子-部分子重组增强的影响。核子及冷核物质的动力学部分子分布均符合实验观测。应用预言的原子核部分子分布抽取得到部分子在穿过冷核物质时的能量损失。     

A study of gluon scattering and gluon fragmentation in highp T interactions at the ISR

Gluon scattering processes are studied in hadronic highp _T events using data obtained with the Split Field Magnet detector (SFM) at the CERN ISR. The experimental set-up allowed the scanning of a wide range of parton energies and scattering angles. It is shown that for positive pions as trigger particles, the parton composition of the recoil jet is correlated with the polar angle and transverse momentum of the triggering pion. Over the kinematical region studied, the recoil jet originates predominantly from scatered gluons, with an increasing prevalence of the gluon component towards forward triggering angles. The variation of the momentum structure of the recoil jet with the trigger angle indicates that the fragmentation function of gluons is softer than that of quarks.     

Helicity-dependent generalized parton distributions in constituent quark models

Helicity-dependent generalized parton distributions of the nucleon are derived from the overlap representation of generalized parton distributions using light-cone wave functions obtained in constituent quark models. Results from two different quark models are used also to study the angular momentum sum rule and the spin asymmetry in polarized electron scattering.     

Gluon bremsstrahlung production of heavy particles in neutrino and antineutrino scattering

Weak charged current production of charmed quark pairs is studied in the framework of the QCD inspired parton model. The magnitude of the cross section strongly depends on the charmed quark pair production threshold, above which the gluons are assumed to decay into either charmed particle pairs of hidden charmonium states. The normalized distributions are rather insensitive to the choice of this threshold value and the angular distribution of J/gy particles will show significant azimuthal asymmetry about the current-target axis. The sign of the asymmetry cannot be mimicked by the parton primordial transverse momentum effects and thus the process can serve a clean test of the gluon bremsstrahlung mechanism.     

χc Charmonium — A tool to investigate gluon polarization

Production of particles with hidden charm χ_c in polarized parton beams (quarks or gluons) is studied. Parton polarization is shown to cause changes in the angular distributions of the χ_c-meson decay products, which allows one to investigate possible gluon polarization in hadrons.