Three–Dimensional parton structure of light nuclei

Abstract

Two promising directions beyond inclusive deep inelastic scattering experiments, aimed at unveiling the three dimensional structure of the bound nucleon, are reviewed, considering in particular the 3He nuclear target. The 3D structure in coordinate space can be accessed through deep exclusive processes, whose non-perturbative part is encoded in generalized parton distributions. In this way, the distribution of partons in the transverse plane can be obtained. As an example of a deep exclusive process, coherent deeply virtual Compton scattering off 3He nuclei, important to access the neutron generalized parton distributions (GPDs), will be discussed. In Impulse Approximation (IA), the sum of the two leading twist, quark helicity conserving GPDs of 3He, H and E, at low momentum transfer, turns out to be dominated by the neutron contribution. Besides, a technique, able to take into account the nuclear effects included in the Impulse Approximation analysis, has been developed. The spin dependent GPD of 3He is also found to be largely dominated, at low momentum transfer, by the neutron contribution. The knowledge of the GPDs H,E and of 3He is relevant for the planning of coherent DVCS off 3He measurements. Semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering processes access the momentum space 3D structure parameterized through transverse momentum dependent parton distributions. A distorted spin-dependent spectral function has been recently introduced for 3He, in a non-relativistic framework, to take care of the final state interaction between the observed pion and the remnant in semi-inclusive deep inelastic electron scattering off transversely polarized 3He. The calculation of the Sivers and Collins single spin asymmetries for 3He, and a straightforward procedure to effectively take into account nuclear dynamics and final state interactions, will be reviewed. The Light-front dynamics generalization of the analysis is also addressed.