Generalized Parton Distributions in Constituent Quark Models

An approach is proposed to calculate Generalized Parton Distributions (GPDs) in a Constituent Quark Model (CQM) scenario. These off-diagonal distributions are obtained from momentum space wave functions to be evaluated in a given non-relativistic or relativized CQM. The general relations linking the twist-two GPDs to the form factors and to the leading-twist quark densities are consistently recovered from our expressions. Results for the leading twist, unpolarized GPD, H, in a simple harmonic-oscillator model, as well as in the Isgur and Karl model, are shown to have the general behavior found in previous estimates. NLO evolution of the obtained distributions, from the low-momentum scale of the model up to the experimental one, is also shown. Further applications of the proposed formalism are addressed. Received: 31 January 2002 / Accepted: 25 November 2002 / Published online: 18 March 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: sergio.scopetta@pg.infn.it RID="b" ID="b"e-mail: vicente.vento@uv.es Communicated by A. Sch?fer