The effect of the infrared phase of the discrete BFKL pomeron on transverse momentum diffusion

Abstract

Imposing infrared boundary conditions on the BFKL equation with running coupling transforms the complex momentum w-plane cut present in the gluon Green function into an infinite series of positive Regge poles. In addition, a cut on the negative w line remains. We consider a Hermitian kernel at leading order with running coupling and construct the gluon Green function performing the w integration away from the real axis. We find a strong dependence of the asymptotic intercepts and collinear behaviour on the non-perturbative choice of the boundary conditions, in the form of an infrared phase. This is particularly manifest in the asymmetric infrared/ultraviolet structure of the associated diffusion in transverse momentum. We find that random walks into the infrared region are largely reduced in this approach.