Pion Wave Function Research Articles

Higher-twist generalized parton distributions of the pion and kaon at zero skewness in the light-cone quark model

We investigate the higher-twist generalized parton distributions (GPDs) of the pion and kaon at zero skewness by adopting the overlap representation within the light-cone formalism. Using the wave functions of pion and kaon deduced from a light-cone quark model (LCQM), we calculate the twist-3 and twist-4 GPDs E2(x,0,t), G2(x,0,t), F3(x,0,t), and H3(x,0,t) of valence quarks inside the pion and kaon mesons. Numerical results for these higher-twist GPDs of valence quark and antiquark are presented. By taking the forward limit, we also present the numerical results for the corresponding twist-3 and twist-4 parton distribution functions (PDFs) e(x) and f3(x) of pion and kaon. We further study the relations between e(x) or f3(x) and the twist-2 unpolarized PDF f1(x). Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Quark counting, Drell-Yan West, and the pion wave function

The relation between the pion's quark distribution function, q(x), its light-front wave function, and the elastic charge form factor, F(Δ2), is explored. The square of the leading-twist pion wave function at a special probe scale, ζH, is determined using models and Poincaré covariance from realistic results for q(x). This wave function is then used to compute form factors with the result that the Drell-Yan-West and quark counting relationships are not satisfied. A new relationship between q(x) and F(Δ2) is proposed. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Lattice calculation of the intrinsic soft function and the Collins-Soper kernel

We calculate the soft function using lattice QCD in the framework of large momentum effective theory incorporating the one-loop perturbative contributions. The soft function is a crucial ingredient in the lattice determination of light cone objects using transverse-momentum-dependent (TMD) factorization. It consists of a rapidity-independent part called intrinsic soft function and a rapidity-dependent part called Collins-Soper kernel. We have adopted appropriate normalization when constructing the pseudoscalar meson form factor that is needed in the determination of the intrinsic part and applied Fierz rearrangement to suppress the higher-twist effects. In the calculation of CS kernel we consider a CLS ensemble other than the MILC ensemble used in a previous study. We have also compared the applicability of determining the CS kernel using quasi TMDWFs and quasi TMDPDFs. As an example, the determined soft function is used to obtain the physical TMD wave functions (WFs) of pion and unpolarized iso-vector TMD parton distribution functions (PDFs) of proton.

Anisotropic flow and the valence quark skeleton of hadrons

We study transverse momentum anisotropies, in particular, the elliptic flow v2 due to the interference effect sourced by valence quarks in high-energy hadron-hadron collisions. Our main formula is derived as the high-energy (eikonal) limit of the impact-parameter dependent cross section in quantum field theory, which agrees with that in terms of the impact parameter in the classical picture. As a quantitative assessment of the interference effect, we calculate v2 in the azimuthal distribution of gluons at a comprehensive coverage of the impact parameter and the transverse momentum in high-energy pion-pion collisions. In a broad range of the impact parameter, a sizable amount of v2, comparable with that produced due to saturated dense gluons or final-state interactions, is found to develop. This is in contrast with similar studies in heavy-ion collisions using classical color charge distributions in which such a contribution from geometric correlations was found to be small and has, hence, been ignored in recent studies. In our calculations, the valence sector of the pion wave function is obtained numerically from the Basis Light-Front Quantization, a non-perturbative light-front Hamiltonian approach. And our formalism is generic and can be applied to other small collision systems like proton-proton collisions.

Mass decomposition of the pion in the ’t Hooft model

We obtain the energy-momentum tensor (EMT) in the 't Hooft model of two-dimensional quantum chromodynamics. The EMT is decomposed into contributions from quark and gluon fields, with all of the (plus component of) the light front momentum being carried by the quark field. The energy is split between quark and gluon fields, with the gluon field carrying the self-energy of the dressed quarks. We consider the pion in the limit of small but non-zero quark masses -- which has previously withstood numerical treatment -- as as a concrete example. We solve for the pion wave function using a variational method and obtain numerical results for its energy breakdown into quark and gluon contributions.

Emergence of pion parton distributions

Supposing only that there is an effective charge which defines an evolution scheme for parton distribution functions (DFs) that is all-orders exact, strict lower and upper bounds on all Mellin moments of the valence-quark DFs of pion-like systems are derived. Exploiting contemporary results from numerical simulations of lattice-regularised quantum chromodynamics (QCD) that are consistent with these bounds, parameter-free predictions for pion valence, glue, and sea DFs are obtained. The form of the valence-quark DF at large values of the light-front momentum fraction is consistent with predictions derived using the QCD-prescribed behaviour of the pion wave function.

Finite volume and magnetic field effects on the two-pion correlation function in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

We study the combined effects of a finite volume and an external magnetic field on the charged two-pion correlation function. For these purposes, we consider a dilute system of pions where the finite volume effects are introduced computing the pion wave functions with rigid boundary conditions in a cylindrical geometry in the presence of a uniform and constant magnetic field. We find that for slow pions, namely, for the case where the average pair momentum is small, the correlation function shows a large distortion, as opposed to the case where the average pair momentum is large. For a finite density system, the intercept of the correlation function is reduced, signaling the increasing importance of the pion ground state contribution. An increasing strength of the magnetic field reduces the importance of the ground state and the intercept becomes closer to 2.

Concerning pion parton distributions

Analyses of the pion valence-quark distribution function (DF), , which explicitly incorporate the behaviour of the pion wave function prescribed by quantum chromodynamics (QCD), predict , beta (zeta gtrsim m_p)>2, where m_p is the proton mass. Nevertheless, more than forty years after the first experiment to collect data suitable for extracting the xsimeq 1 behaviour of , the empirical status remains uncertain because some methods used to fit existing data return a result for that violates this constraint. Such disagreement entails one of the following conclusions: the analysis concerned is incomplete; not all data being considered are a true expression of qualities intrinsic to the pion; or QCD, as it is currently understood, is not the theory of strong interactions. New, precise data are necessary before a final conclusion is possible. In developing these positions, we exploit a single proposition, viz. there is an effective charge which defines an evolution scheme for parton DFs that is all-orders exact. This proposition has numerous corollaries, which can be used to test the character of any DF, whether fitted or calculated.

Quark Wigner distributions and GTMDs of Pion in the light-front holographic model

We investigate the quark Wigner distributions of the pion to reveal the multidimensional picture of pion. We have used the spin improved wave functions of pion deduced from the light-front holographic model of mesons. By using the Fock-state overlap representation, the Wigner distributions of an unpolarized, longitudinally polarized and transversely polarized quark inside the pion are calculated. We have presented the results of transverse Wigner distributions in impact-parameter space as well as in momentum space. In order to understand the role of skewness which gives the longitudinal momentum transfer between the quarks, we study the six-dimensional phase-space distribution: the generalized transverse momentum dependent parton distributions of pion for the case of zero skewness as well as for nonzero value of skewness.

Exclusive production of pions and the pion distribution amplitude

Considering, as a limit case, an approximately flat pion distribution amplitude, which is determined from the hardest, in momentum space, solution of the Bethe–Salpeter equation for the pion wave function, we compute the pion transition form factor and the pion form factor Fπ(Q2), taking into account the LO as well as NLO form of the hard coefficient function entering the leading-twist factorization formula. We also compute the exclusive photoproduction of pions pairs at high energies, , where perturbative QCD can be used to compute the hard scattering matrix elements. We verify that the existent data for exclusive pion production can be reasonably described as a function of such a flat distribution amplitude.

Proton and Neutron Electromagnetic Form Factors Based on Bound System in 3 + 1 Dimensional QCD

We propose a new description of a nucleon as a pair of pions. The baryon number of our description of nucleon is not 1 but 0. However, this is probable because the proton spin crisis shows that the baryon spin cannot tell the number of composing quarks anymore. Because we use the derived pion wave function to describe a nucleon, our description has automatically the pionic degree of freedom and can be compared to the constituent quark model. Using this description, we investigate the electric charge and magnetization density functions of protons and neutrons. The electric charge density function of neutron is quite similar to those of Galster model and Maints data except the magnitude of singularity. The density functions of proton also show the similar behavior as those of Kelly’s except near origin. Taking the Fourier transform of the density functions, we obtain the Sachs electromagnetic form factors that can be compared to those in the parametrization derived by Ye et al.

Predicting the light-front holographic TMDs of the pion

We predict the twist-2 Transverse Momentum Dependent parton distribution functions (TMDs) of the pion, namely the unpolarized quark TMD, $f_{1}(x, k_\perp)$, and the transversely polarized quark TMD, also known as the Boer-Mulders function, $h^\perp_{1}(x, k_\perp)$, using a holographic light-front pion wavefunction with dynamical spin effects. These spin effects, in conjunction with gluon rescattering, are crucial to predict a non-zero holographic Boer-Mulders function. We investigate the use of a non-perturbative SU(3) gluon rescattering kernel, thus going beyond the usual approximation of perturbative U(1) gluons. We find that the non-perturbative color dynamics offer a more promising way to describe the available lattice data on the generalized Boer-Mulders shifts.

Power corrections to pion transition form factor in perturbative QCD approach

In this paper we calculate the power corrections to the pion transition form factor within the framework of perturbative QCD approach on the basis of $k_T$ factorization. The power suppressed contributions from higher twist pion wave functions and the hadronic structure of photon are investigated. We find that there exists strong cancellation between the two kinds contributions, thus the total power corrections considered currently are very small, and the prediction of the leading power contribution with joint resummation improved perturbative QCD approach is almost unchanged. This result confirms that the pion transition form factor is a good platform to constrain the nonperturbative parameters in pion wave functions. Moreover, our result can accommodate the anomalous data from BaBar, or agrees with results from Belle according to the choice of Gegebauer moment in the pion wave function, and the more precise experimental data from Belle-II is expected.

Quark Wigner distribution of the pion meson in light-cone quark model

We study the quark Wigner distributions of the pion meson which are the phase-space distributions containing the most general one-parton information.Using the pion wavefunctions deduced from a light-cone quark model, we calculate the Wigner distributions of the unpolarized, longitudinally polarized and transversely polarized quarks inside the pion meson via the Fock-state overlap representation, respectively.We present the numerical results of the transverse Wigner distributions in which the longitudinal momentum fraction is integrated out. The mixed Wigner distributions as functions of $b_y$ and $k_x$ are also presented.As a intermediate step, we provide the analytic results for the generalized transverse momentum dependent distributions of the pion meson in the same model.

A model calculation of double parton distribution functions of the pion

Two-parton correlations in the pion are investigated in terms of double parton distribution functions. A Poincaré covariant light-front framework has been adopted. As non perturbative input, the pion wave function obtained within the so-called soft-wall AdS/QCD model has been used. Results show how novel dynamical information on the structure of the pion, not accessible through one-body quantities, are encoded in double parton distribution functions.

Light meson mass spectra and pion electromagnetic form factor as a bound system in 3 + 1 dimensional QCD

Abstract We investigate the Bethe-Salpeter-like amplitude in 3 + 1 dimensions. This involves a system comprising a quark and antiquark combined by gauge fields to satisfy gauge invariance. We derive the equation of motion for this system and construct a series of eigenvalue differential equations including the contribution of magnetic field for meson wave-functions. By solving these equations, we obtain meson mass spectra and the corresponding meson wave-functions including pion wave function. In addition, using this pion wave function, we obtain the pion electromagnetic form factor including the contribution of a magnetic field.

Boer-Mulders function of the pion and the qT -weighted cos2φ asymmetry in the unpolarized π−p Drell-Yan process at COMPASS

We calculate the two leading-twist transverse momentum dependent distribution functions of the pion meson, the unpolarized distribution $f_{1\pi}(x,\bm{k}^2_T)$ and the Boer-Mulders function $h_{1\pi}^\perp (x,\bm{k}^2_T)$, using the pion wave functions derived from a light-cone approach. The evolution effect of the first $\bm k_T$-moment of the pion Boer-Mulders function is studied by employing an approximate evolution kernel. Using the model resulting distributions, we predict the transverse momentum weighted $\cos2\phi$ azimuthal asymmetry in the unpolarized $\pi^- p$ Drell-Yan process which can be measured at COMPASS in the near future.

Pion wave-function as a bound system in 3 + 1 dimensional QCD

We investigate the Bethe-Salpeter-like amplitude in 3+1 dimensions. This involves a system comprising a quark and an antiquark combined by gauge fields to satisfy gauge invariance. We derive the equation of motion for this system and construct a series of convolution integro-differential equations. By solving these equations and using the Ward Identity, we obtain the pion wave function and then the pion form factor. Our form of the pion form factor explains well the inclination of the large q2 region of experimental data. Thus, our pion wave function shows the real trailing-off property, which reflects the confinement property.

Hard Exclusive Pion Leptoproduction

In this talk it is reported on an analysis of hard exclusive leptoproduction of pions within the handbag approach. It is argued that recent measurements of this process performed by HERMES and CLAS clearly indicate the occurrence of strong contributions from transversely polarized photons. Within the handbag approach such gamma*_T -> pi transitions are described by the transversity GPDs accompanied by twist-3 pion wave functions. It is shown that the handbag approach leads to results on cross sections and single-spin asymmetries in fair agreement with experiment. Predictions for other pseudoscalar meson channels are also briefly discussed.8 pages

The longitudinal and transverse distributions of the pion wave function from the present experimental data on the pion–photon transition form factor

It is noted that the low-energy behavior of the pion-photon transition form factor $F_{\pi\gamma}(Q^2)$ is sensitive to the transverse distribution of the pion wavefunction, and its high-energy behavior is sensitive to the longitudinal one. Thus a careful study on $F_{\pi\gamma}(Q^2)$ can provide helpful information on the pion wavefunction precisely. In this paper, we present a combined analysis of the data on $F_{\pi\gamma}(Q^2)$ reported by the CELLO, the CLEO, the BABAR and the BELLE collaborations. It is performed by using the method of least squares. By using the combined measurements of BELLE and CLEO Collaborations, the pion wavefunction longitudinal and transverse behavior can be fixed to a certain degree, i.e. we obtain $\beta \in [0.691,0.757] \rm GeV$ and $B \in [0.00,0.235]$ for $P_{\chi^2} \geq 90\%$, where $\beta$ and $B$ are two parameters of a convenient pion wavefunction model whose distribution amplitude can mimic the various longitudinal behavior under proper choice of parameters. We observe that the CELLO, CLEO and BELLE data are consistent with each other, all of which prefers the asymptotic-like distribution amplitude; while the BABAR data prefers a more broad distribution amplitude, such as the CZ-like one.