Quark Momentum Research Articles

Production of primordial J/ψ in relativistic p+p and heavy-ion collisions

$J/\ensuremath{\psi}$ observables of $p+p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=200\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{GeV}$ and 2.76 TeV are calculated using the pythia event generator for the production of $c$ and $\overline{c}$ and the Wigner density formalism. The charm quark momentum from pythia is tuned in such a way that the transverse momentum and rapidity distribution correspond to the fixed-order next-to-leading logarithm calculations and hence to the experimental data for open charm mesons. Using the Wigner density of the charmonium wave function we calculate for each charm quark pair the probability to form a charmonium. As a result, the experimental data on the total $J/\ensuremath{\psi}$ yield, its rapidity and transverse momentum distribution as well as the fractions of feed-down from excited states of charmonium are reproduced. Applying the same approach to relativistic heavy-ion collisions, we find, if quark gluon plasma (QGP) effects are ignored, a considerable enhancement of the primordial $J/\ensuremath{\psi}$'s.

Impact of momentum anisotropy and turbulent chromo-fields on thermal particle production in quark\u2013gluon-plasma medium

Momentum anisotropy present during the hydrodynamic evolution of the Quark–Gluon Plasma (QGP) in RHIC may lead to the chromo-Weibel instability and turbulent chromo-fields.The dynamics of the quark and gluon momentum distributions in this case is governed by an effective diffusive Vlasov equation (linearized). The solution of this linearized transport equation for the modified momentum distribution functions lead to the mathematical form of non-equilibrium momentum distribution functions of quarks/antiquarks and gluons. The modifications to these distributions encode the physics of turbulent color fields and momentum anisotropy. In the present manuscript, we employ these distribution functions to estimate the thermal dilepton production rate in the QGP medium. The production rate is seen to have appreciable sensitivity to the strength of the anisotropy.

Transverse momentum dependent quark and gluon distributions of light nuclei

We investigate the unpolarized transverse momentum dependent (TMD) structure of light nuclei in the modified chiral quark exchange model (QEM), for the first time. To this end, we calculate the TMD quark and gluon distributions inside the bound state nucleons of the light nuclei based on the modified chiral quark model in which the TMD bare quark distributions of the bounded nucleons are needed. In order to compute these bare distributions, we first obtain the bare quark momentum densities using the QEM and then calculate the TMD bare distributions applying a theoretical method in which the light-cone variables are used. Finally, considering the nucleon structure of helium, tritium and deuteron nuclei, we obtain their TMD quark and gluon densities at low Q2 scale. It is shown that our results have appropriate properties that are expected for the TMD distribution functions.

Chiral perturbation theory and nucleon–pion-state contaminations in lattice QCD

Multiparticle states with additional pions are expected to be a non-negligible source of excited-state contamination in lattice simulations at the physical point. It is shown that baryon chiral perturbation theory can be employed to calculate the contamination due to two-particle nucleon–pion-states in various nucleon observables. Leading order results are presented for the nucleon axial, tensor and scalar charge and three Mellin moments of parton distribution functions (quark momentum fraction, helicity and transversity moment). Taking into account phenomenological results for the charges and moments the impact of the nucleon–pion-states on lattice estimates for these observables can be estimated. The nucleon–pion-state contribution results in an overestimation of all charges and moments obtained with the plateau method. The overestimation is at the 5–10% level for source-sink separations of about 2 fm. The source-sink separations accessible in contemporary lattice simulations are found to be too small for chiral perturbation theory to be directly applicable.

Feasibility Studies for Single Transverse-Spin Asymmetry Measurements at a Fixed-Target Experiment Using the LHC Proton and Lead Beams (AFTER@LHC)

The measurement of Single Transverse-Spin Asymmetries, A_N, for various quarkonium states and Drell–Yan lepton pairs can shed light on the orbital angular momentum of quarks and gluons, a fundamental ingredient of the proton-spin puzzle. The AFTER@LHC proposal combines a unique kinematic coverage and large luminosities thanks to the Large Hadron Collider beams to deliver precise measurements, complementary to the knowledge provided by collider experiments such as at RHIC. In this paper, we report on sensitivity studies for J/psi , varUpsilon and Drell–Yan A_N done using the performance of LHCb-like or ALICE-like detectors, combined with polarised gaseous hydrogen and helium-3 targets. In particular, such analyses will provide us with new insights and knowledge about transverse-momentum-dependent parton distribution functions for quarks and gluons and on twist-3 collinear matrix elements in the proton and the neutron.

Quark orbital dynamics in the proton from lattice QCD: From Ji to Jaffe-Manohar orbital angular momentum

Given a Wigner distribution simultaneously characterizing quark transverse positions and momenta in a proton, one can directly evaluate their cross-product, i.e., quark orbital angular momentum. The aforementioned distribution can be obtained by generalizing the proton matrix elements of quark bilocal operators which define transverse momentum-dependent parton distributions (TMDs); the transverse momentum information is supplemented with transverse position information by introducing an additional nonzero momentum transfer. A gauge connection between the quarks must be specified in the quark bilocal operators; the staple-shaped gauge link path used in TMD calculations yields the Jaffe-Manohar definition of orbital angular momentum, whereas a straight path yields the Ji definition. An exploratory lattice calculation, performed at the pion mass m_pi = 518 MeV, is presented which quasi-continuously interpolates between the two definitions and demonstrates that their difference can be clearly resolved. The resulting Ji orbital angular momentum is confronted with traditional evaluations based on Ji's sum rule. Jaffe-Manohar orbital angular momentum is enhanced in magnitude compared to its Ji counterpart.

Measurements of top-quark pair differential cross-sections in the emu channel in pp collisions at sqrt{s} = 13\xa0TeV using the ATLAS detector

This article presents measurements of tbar{t} differential cross-sections in a fiducial phase-space region, using an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb^{-1} of proton–proton data at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt{s} = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in 2015. Differential cross-sections are measured as a function of the transverse momentum and absolute rapidity of the top quark, and of the transverse momentum, absolute rapidity and invariant mass of the tbar{t} system. The tbar{t} events are selected by requiring one electron and one muon of opposite electric charge, and at least two jets, one of which must be tagged as containing a b-hadron. The measured differential cross-sections are compared to predictions of next-to-leading order generators matched to parton showers and the measurements are found to be consistent with all models within the experimental uncertainties with the exception of the Powheg-Box+ Herwig++ predictions, which differ significantly from the data in both the transverse momentum of the top quark and the mass of the tbar{t} system.

Contribution of orbital angular momentum to the nucleon spin

We have calculated the orbital angular momentum of quarks and gluons in the nucleon. The calculations are carried out in the next to leading order utilizing the so-called valon model. It is found that the average quark orbital angular momentum is positive, but small, and the average gluon orbital angular momentum is negative and large. We also report on some regularities about the total angular momentum of the quarks and the gluon, as well as on the orbital angular momentum of the separate partons. We have also provided partonic angular momentum, [Formula: see text] as a function of [Formula: see text].

Nucleon-pion-state contribution in lattice calculations of moments of parton distribution functions

We employ chiral perturbation theory to calculate the nucleon-pion-state contribution to the 3-point correlation functions measured in lattice QCD to compute various moments of parton distribution functions (quark momentum fraction, helicity and transversity moment). We estimate the impact of the nucleon-pion-state contribution on the plateau method for lattice simulations with a physical pion mass. The nucleon-pion-state contribution results in an overestimation of all three moments. The overestimation is at the 5--20% level for source-sink separations of about 1.5 fm.

Counting of oscillatory modes of valence quarks forming qqq baryons for three quark flavors u, d, s

We present the unique properties of oscillatory modes of [Formula: see text] light quarks — [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] — using the [Formula: see text] broken symmetry classification. [Formula: see text] stands for the space rotation group generated by the sum of the three individual angular momenta of quarks in their c.m. system. The baryonic multiplets are shown to emerge from the picture of oscillating quarks in three space dimensions in the center-of-mass system of the baryons. All oscillatory modes are fully relativistic with a finite number of oscillators and this is forming the unique harmonic oscillator with these properties. The density of states as a function of mass-square is calculated. This estimate is of relevance for the accounting of the missing states of unobserved hadrons, as the here estimated baryonic multiplets include both the observed and the unobserved (or “missing”) hadrons. The estimate is conceptually different from Hagedorn’s model and is based on field theory of QCD.

Electroweak corrections to top quark pair production in association with a hard photon at hadron colliders

We present the next-to-leading order (NLO) electroweak (EW) corrections to the top quark pair production associated with a hard photon at the current and future hadron colliders. The dependence of the leading order (LO) and NLO EW corrected cross sections on the photon transverse momentum cut are investigated. We also provide the LO and NLO EW corrected distributions of the transverse momentum of final top quark and photon and the invariant mass of top quark pair and top-antitop-photon system. The results show that the NLO EW corrections are significant in high energy regions due to the EW Sudakov effect.

K0-K¯0 Mixing in the Minimal Flavor-Violating Two-Higgs-Doublet Models

The two-Higgs-doublet model (2HDM), as one of the simplest extensions of the Standard Model (SM), is obtained by adding another scalar doublet to the SM and is featured by a pair of charged Higgs, which could affect many low-energy processes. In the “Higgs basis” for a generic 2HDM, only one scalar doublet gets a nonzero vacuum expectation value and, under the criterion of minimal flavor violation, the other one is fixed to be either color-singlet or color-octet, which are named as type III and type C 2HDM, respectively. In this paper, we study the charged-Higgs effects of these two models on the K0-K¯0 mixing, an ideal process to probe New Physics (NP) beyond the SM. Firstly, we perform a complete one-loop computation of the box diagrams relevant to the K0-K¯0 mixing, keeping the mass and momentum of the external strange quark up to the second order. Together with the up-to-date theoretical inputs, we then give a detailed phenomenological analysis, in the cases of both real and complex Yukawa couplings of the charged Higgs to quarks. The parameter spaces allowed by the current experimental data on the mass difference ΔmK and the CP-violating parameter ϵK are obtained and the differences between these two 2HDMs are investigated, which are helpful to distinguish them from each other from a phenomenological point of view.

Baryons and chiral symmetry

The relevance of chiral symmetry in baryons is highlighted in three examples in the nucleon spectroscopy and structure. The first one is the importance of chiral dynamics in understanding the Roper resonance. The second one is the role of chiral symmetry in the lattice calculation of [Formula: see text] term and strangeness. The third one is the role of chiral [Formula: see text] anomaly in the anomalous Ward identity in evaluating the quark spin and the quark orbital angular momentum. Finally, the chiral effective theory for baryons is discussed.

Counting of oscillatory modes of valence quarks forming qqq baryons for 3 quark flavors u,d,s

We present a selection the unique properties of oscillatory modes of N fl = 3 light quarks -u, d, s- , using the SU 2Nfl=6×SO3L→ broken symmetry classification. L→=∑n=1NflL→n stands for the space rotation group generated by the sum of the three individual angular momenta of quarks in their c.m. system. The baryonic multiplets are shown to emerge from the picture of oscillating quarks in 3 space dimensions in the center of mass system of the baryons. All oscillatory modes are fully relativistic with a finite number of oscillators and ths is forming the unique harmonic oscillators with these properties. The density of states as a function of mass-square is calculated. This estimate is of relevance for the accounting of the missing states of unobserved hadrons, as the here estimated baryonic multiplets include both the observed and the unobserved (or “missing”) hadrons. The estimate is conceptually different from Hagedorn’s model and is based on field theory of QCD.

Exclusive ω meson muoproduction on transversely polarised protons

Exclusive production of ω mesons was studied at the COMPASS experiment by scattering 160 GeV/c muons off transversely polarised protons. Five single-spin and three double-spin azimuthal asymmetries were measured in the range of photon virtuality 1 (GeV/c)2<Q2<10 (GeV/c)2, Bjorken scaling variable 0.003<xBj<0.3 and transverse momentum squared of the ω meson 0.05 (GeV/c)2<pT2<0.5 (GeV/c)2. The measured asymmetries are sensitive to the nucleon helicity-flip Generalised Parton Distributions (GPD) E that are related to the orbital angular momentum of quarks, the chiral-odd GPDs HT that are related to the transversity Parton Distribution Functions, and the sign of the πω transition form factor. The results are compared to recent calculations of a GPD-based model.

Drag-induced radiative energy loss from semihard heavy quarks

The case of gluon bremsstrahlung off a heavy quark in extended nuclear matter is revisited within the higher twist formalism. In particular, the in-medium modification of "semi-hard" heavy quarks is studied, where the momentum of the heavy quark is larger but comparable to the mass of the heavy quark ($p \gtrsim M$). In contrast to all prior calculations, where the gluon emission spectrum is entirely controlled by the transverse momentum diffusion parameter ($\hat q$), both for light and heavy quarks, in this work, we demonstrate that the gluon emission spectrum for a heavy quark (unlike that for flavors) is also sensitive to $\hat e$, which so far has been used to quantify the amount of light-cone drag experienced by a parton. This mass dependent effect, due to the non-light-like momentum of a semi-hard heavy-quark, leads to an additional energy loss term for heavy-quarks, while resulting in a negligible modification of light flavor (and high energy heavy flavor) loss. This result can be used to estimate the value of this sub-leading non-perturbative jet transport parameter ($\hat e$) from heavy flavor suppression in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions.

Nucleon matrix elements using the variational method in lattice QCD

The extraction of hadron matrix elements in lattice QCD using the standard two- and three-point correlator functions demands careful attention to systematic uncertainties. One of the most commonly studied sources of systematic error is contamination from excited states. We apply the variational method to calculate the axial vector current $g_{A}$, the scalar current $g_{S}$ and the quark momentum fraction $\left<x\right>$ of the nucleon and we compare the results to the more commonly used summation and two-exponential fit methods. The results demonstrate that the variational approach offers a more efficient and robust method for the determination of nucleon matrix elements.

Some QCD/gravity intersections

Gravitational form factors are the matrix elements of the Belinfante energy momentum tensor (EMT) which naturally incorporate the hadron structure and the equivalence principle. The relocalization property allowing to transform EMT to the Belinfante form provides the “kinematical” counterpart of the famous [Formula: see text] problem. The equivalence principle may be approximately valid for quarks and gluons separately in non-perturbative (NP)QCD, and this conjecture is supported by the experimental and lattice data. The extra-dimensional gravity leading to holographic AdS/QCD is supporting the relation of quark transverse momentum to the Regge slope, discovered by V.N. Gribov.

Hadronization time of heavy quarks in nuclear matter

We study the hadronization time of heavy quark in nuclear matter by using the coalescence model and the spatial diffusion constant of heavy quark from lattice Quantum Chromodynamic calculations, assuming that the main interaction of heavy quark at the critical temperature is hadronization. It is found that the hadronization time of heavy quark is about 3 fm/c for $2\pi T_c D_s=6$, if a heavy quark is combined with the nearest light antiquark in coordinate space without any correlation between momentum of heavy quark and that of light antiquark which form a heavy meson. However, the hadronization time reduces to 0.6-1.2 fm/c for charm and 0.4-0.9 fm/c for bottom, depending on heavy meson radius, in the presence of momentum correlation. Considering the interspace between quarks and antiquarks at the critical temperature, it seems that the hadronization of heavy quark does not happen instantaneously but gradually for a considerable time, if started from the thermal distribution of quarks and antiquarks.

Parton transverse momentum and orbital angular momentum distributions

The quark orbital angular momentum component of proton spin, $L_q$, can be defined in QCD as the integral of a Wigner phase space distribution weighting the cross product of the quark's transverse position and momentum. It can also be independently defined from the operator product expansion for the off-forward Compton amplitude in terms of a twist-three generalized parton distribution. We provide an explicit link between the two definitions, connecting them through their dependence on partonic intrinsic transverse momentum. Connecting the definitions provides the key for correlating direct experimental determinations of $L_q$, and evaluations through Lattice QCD calculations. The direct observation of quark orbital angular momentum does not require transverse spin polarization, but can occur using longitudinally polarized targets.