TMD Approach Research Articles

Transverse Λ polarization in unpolarized pp → jet Λ↑ X

In this Letter, we investigate the spontaneous transverse polarization of Λ hyperons produced in unpolarized pp collisions inside a jet, by adopting a TMD approach where transverse momentum effects are included only in the fragmentation process. We will present predictions based on the parametrizations of the Λ polarizing fragmentation function as extracted from fits to Belle e+e− data. These estimates will be compared against preliminary STAR data. We will then be able to explore the universality properties of the quark polarizing fragmentation function and, for the first time, the role of its gluon counterpart.

$\Lambda$ Polarizing Fragmentation Function from Belle $e^+ e^-$ data

Experimental data from Belle Collaboration for the transverse polarization of \LambdaΛ’s measured in e^+ e^-e+e− annihilation processes are used to extract the polarizing fragmentation function (FF) within a TMD approach. We consider both associated and inclusive \LambdaΛ production, showing a quite consistent scenario. Good separation in flavor is obtained, leading to four independent FFs. Predictions for SIDIS processes at the EIC, crucial for understanding their universality and evolution properties, are also presented.

Identifying a Feasible Transition Pathway between Two Conformational States for a Protein.

Proteins usually need to transit between different conformational states to fulfill their biological functions. In the mechanistic study of such transition processes by molecular dynamics simulations, identification of the minimum free energy path (MFEP) can substantially reduce the sampling space, thus enabling rigorous thermodynamic evaluation of the process. Conventionally, the MFEP is derived by iterative local optimization from an initial path, which is typically generated by simple brute force techniques like the targeted molecular dynamics (tMD). Therefore, the quality of the initial path determines the successfulness of MFEP estimation. In this work, we propose a method to improve derivation of the initial path. Through iterative relaxation-biasing simulations in a bidirectional manner, this method can construct a feasible transition pathway connecting two known states for a protein. Evaluation on small, fast-folding proteins against long equilibrium trajectories supports the good sampling efficiency of our method. When applied to larger proteins including the catalytic domain of human c-Src kinase as well as the converter domain of myosin VI, the paths generated by our method deviate significantly from those computed with the generic tMD approach. More importantly, free energy profiles and intermediate states obtained from our paths exhibit remarkable improvements over those from tMD paths with respect to both physical rationality and consistency with a priori knowledge.

Low-x improved TMD approach to the lepto- and hadroproduction of a heavy-quark pair

We study the lepto- and hadroproduction of a heavy-quark pair in the ITMD factorization framework for dilute-dense collisions. Due to the presence of a nonzero quark mass and/or nonzero photon virtuality, new contributions appear compared to the cases of photo- and hadroproduction of dijets, for which the ITMD framework was originally derived. These extra terms are sensitive to gluons that are not fully linearly polarized. At small x, those gluons emerge only when all saturation effects are carefully taken into account. Therefore, the resulting contributions are absent in linear small-x frameworks, where gluons are fully linearly polarized. We show, however, that even for large gluon transverse momentum, these contributions are not always negligible, due to the behavior of the off-shell hard factors.

Process dependence of the gluon Sivers function in p↑p→J/ψ+X within a TMD scheme in NRQCD

We consider the transverse single-spin asymmetry (SSA) for $J/\psi$ production in $p^\uparrow p \to J/\psi + X$ within a TMD approach in non-relativistic QCD. Extending a previous study [1], we employ here the color-gauge invariant generalized parton model (CGI-GPM), in which spin and intrinsic transverse momentum effects are taken into account, together with leading-order initial- and final-state interactions (ISIs and FSIs). We find that, even when the heavy-quark pair is produced in a color-octet state, ISIs and FSIs lead to a nonvanishing SSA, allowing, in principle, to test the process dependence of the gluon Sivers function (GSF). We show that of the two independent contributions, due to the so-called $f$- and $d$-type GSFs, appearing in the CGI-GPM, the $d$-type one turns out to be dynamically suppressed. Therefore, as already found adopting the Color-Singlet Model approach for the $J/\psi$ formation [2], only the $f$-type GSF could play a role in phenomenology. A comparison with the corresponding results obtained in the generalized parton model, without the inclusion of ISIs and FSIs, is also carried out.

Single-spin asymmetries in p^uparrow p rightarrow J/psi +X within a TMD approach: role of the color octet mechanism

We calculate the transverse single-spin asymmetry (SSA) for J/psi production in proton-proton collisions, within non-relativistic QCD, employing the transverse momentum dependent, generalized parton model, which includes both spin and intrinsic motion effects. In particular, we study the role of the color octet mechanism in accessing the gluon Sivers function. In doing that, we also show, within this approach, how the singularities coming from color octet terms in the low-P_T region can be handled, leading to finite cross sections. Predictions for both unpolarized cross sections and SSAs are given and compared against PHENIX data. Estimates for LHCb in the fixed target mode are also presented.

Pinning down the linearly-polarised gluons inside unpolarised protons using quarkonium-pair production at the LHC

We show that the production of J/ψ or ϒ pairs in unpolarised pp collisions is currently the best process to measure the momentum distribution of linearly-polarised gluons inside unpolarised protons through the study of azimuthal asymmetries. Not only the short-distance coefficients for such reactions induce the largest possible cos⁡4ϕ modulations, but analysed data are already available. Among the various final states previously studied in unpolarised pp collisions within the TMD approach, di-J/ψ production exhibits by far the largest asymmetries, in the region studied by the ATLAS and CMS experiments. In addition, we use the very recent LHCb data at 13 TeV to perform the first fit of the unpolarised transverse-momentum-dependent gluon distribution.

Transverse single-spin asymmetries in ℓp↑→hX within a TMD approach: Role of quasireal photon exchange

We present an updated study of transverse single-spin asymmetries for the inclusive large-$P_T$ processes $\ell \, p^\uparrow \to h\, X$ and $\ell\, p^\uparrow \to {\rm jet}\,X$, within a transverse momentum-dependent approach, including the contribution of quasireal (Weizs\"acker-Williams) photons. In the spirit of a unified transverse momentum-dependent scheme, predictions are obtained adopting the Sivers and transversity distributions and the Collins fragmentation functions as extracted from fits to the azimuthal asymmetries measured in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering and $e^+e^-$ annihilation processes. The description of the available data is extremely good, showing a clear general improvement with respect to the previous leading-order analysis. Predictions for unpolarized cross sections and single-spin asymmetries for ongoing and future experiments are also given.

Polarized Drell-Yan studies at COMPASS

The COMPASS experiment at CERN will soon start a new series of measure- ments using a pion beam and a transversely polarized target. The study of the polarized Drell-Yan process will provide an insight of the transverse momentum dependent parton distribution functions (TMDs), which is complementary to their extraction from semi- inclusive deep inelastic scattering (SIDIS), previously measured in COMPASS. The sign change of Sivers and Boer-Mulders TMDs, when accessed from SIDIS or Drell-Yan, is predicted by theory. Its experimental observation is considered an essential test of the TMD approach. The experimental aspects of the Drell-Yan measurement in COMPASS are discussed. The set-up optimization, driven by the results of several beam tests are presented, as well as the expected event rates and statistical errors of the azimuthal asymmetries.

TMD evolution of the Sivers asymmetry

The energy scale dependence of the Sivers asymmetry in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering is studied numerically within the framework of TMD factorization that was put forward in 2011. The comparison to previous results in the literature shows that the treatment of next-to-leading logarithmic effects is important for the fall-off of the Sivers asymmetry with energy in the measurable regime. The TMD factorization based approach indicates that the peak of the Sivers asymmetry falls off with energy scale Q to good approximation as 1/Q0.7, somewhat faster than found previously based on the first TMD factorization expressions by Collins and Soper in 1981. It is found that the peak of the asymmetry moves rather slowly towards higher transverse momentum values as Q increases, which may be due to the absence of perturbative tails of the TMDs in the presented treatments. We conclude that the behavior of the peak of the asymmetry as a function of energy and transverse momentum allows for valuable tests of the TMD formalism and the considered approximations. To confront the TMD approach with experiment, high energy experimental data from an Electron–Ion Collider is required.