Transition Distribution Amplitudes Research Articles

Pion-photon and kaon-photon transition distribution amplitudes in the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model

Abstract Pion and kaon photon leading-twist transition distribution amplitudes are investigated within the framework of the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model using proper time regularization. The properties of the vector and axial vector pion photon transition distribution amplitudes are examined separately, the results satisfy the desirable properties. The sum rules and polynomiality condition are studied, the first Mellin moments of the pion and kaon photon transition distribution amplitudes correspond to the vector and axial vector pion and kaon photon form factors $F_V(t)$ and $F_A(t)$, which appear in the $\pi^+\rightarrow \gamma e^+ \nu$ process. The vector transition form factor comes from the internal structure of hadrons, the axial current can be coupled to a pion, this pion is virtual, and its contribution will be present independently of the external hadrons, kaon transition form factors are similar. The value at zero momentum transfer of the vector form factor is fixed by the axial anomaly, while this is not the case for the axial one. The diagrams of the two form factors are plotted, in addition, the neutral pion vector form factor $F_{\pi \gamma \gamma}(t)$. We find that the axial vector transition form factor is harder than the vector transition form factor and harder than the electromagnetic form factor. The results are listed in our table, we also discuss the relationship of $\pi - \gamma $ and $\gamma - \pi$ transitions distribution amplitudes.

Backward timelike Compton scattering to decipher the photon content of the nucleon

The exclusive photoproduction off nucleon of a large invariant mass lepton pair in the backward region specified by the small Mandelstam variable -u is discussed in the framework of collinear QCD factorization. The amplitude is factorized in terms of photon-to-nucleon Transition Distribution Amplitudes (TDAs). These new non-perturbative objects, complementary to the “photon-inside-the-nucleon PDF”, lead to a tomographic picture of the nucleon’s photon content after Fourier transforming to the impact parameter space. This allows to address the question of where in the transverse plane the nucleon emits a photon. A simplistic model-estimate of photon-to-nucleon TDAs is used to estimate the magnitude of the corresponding cross sections. The background due to the electromagnetic Bethe–Heitler process is shown to be negligible in the kinematical regime of interest.

The Status and Future of Color Transparency and Nuclear Filtering

Fourty years after its introduction, the phenomenon of color transparency remains a domain of controversial interpretations of experimental data. In this review, present evidence for or against color transparency manifestation in various exclusive hard scattering reactions is presented. The nuclear transparency experiments reveal whether short-distance processes dominate a scattering amplitude at some given kinematical point. We plead for a new round of nuclear transparency measurements in a variety of experimental set-ups, including near-forward exclusive reactions related to generalized parton distribution (GPD) physics and near-backward exclusive reactions related to transition distribution amplitudes (TDA) physics.

U-Channel Color Transparency Observables

The paper proposes to study the onset of color transparency in hard exclusive reactions in the backward regime. Guided by the encouraging Jefferson Laboratory (JLab) results on backward π and ω electroproduction data at moderate virtuality Q2, which may be interpreted as the signal of an early scaling regime, where the scattering amplitude factorizes in a hard coefficient function convoluted with nucleon to meson transition distribution amplitudes, the study shows that investigations of these channels on nuclear targets opens a new opportunity to test the appearance of nuclear color transparency for a fast-moving nucleon.

Extraction of moments from the hard exclusive π+ channel in a wide range of kinematics with CLAS

The beam-spin asymmetry (BSA) has been measured for the hard exclusive e p → e n π+ reaction over a wide range of kinematics in the deep inelastic regime. The measurements were performed with the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) using a 5.5 GeV polarized electron beam at Jefferson Lab (JLAB). The ϕ dependence of the BSA as well as the −t, Q 2 and xB dependence of the extracted ALU sin(ϕ) moment will be presented. For ALU sin(ϕ) a clear sign change can be observed between pions emitted in forward and backward direction with a smooth transition around 90° in CM. The results will be discussed in the context of formalisms depending on generalized parton distributions (GPDs) and transition distribution amplitudes (TDAs), which can be used to describe complementary kinematic regimes.

Extraction of Beam-Spin Asymmetries from the Hard Exclusive π^{+} Channel off Protons in a Wide Range of Kinematics.

We have measured beam-spin asymmetries to extract the sinϕ moment A_{LU}^{sinϕ} from the hard exclusive e[over →]p→e^{'}nπ^{+} reaction above the resonance region, for the first time with nearly full coverage from forward to backward angles in the center of mass. The A_{LU}^{sinϕ} moment has been measured up to 6.6 GeV^{2} in -t, covering the kinematic regimes of generalized parton distributions (GPD) and baryon-to-meson transition distribution amplitudes (TDA) at the same time. The experimental results in very forward kinematics demonstrate the sensitivity to chiral-odd and chiral-even GPDs. In very backward kinematics where the TDA framework is applicable, we found A_{LU}^{sinϕ} to be negative, while a sign change was observed near 90° in the center of mass. The unique results presented in this Letter will provide critical constraints to establish reaction mechanisms that can help to further develop the GPD and TDA frameworks.

Unique Access to u-Channel Physics: Exclusive Backward-Angle Omega Meson Electroproduction.

Backward-angle meson electroproduction above the resonance region, which was previously ignored, is anticipated to offer unique access to the three quark plus sea component of the nucleon wave function. In this Letter, we present the first complete separation of the four electromagnetic structure functions above the resonance region in exclusive ω electroproduction off the proton, ep→e^{'}pω, at central Q^{2} values of 1.60, 2.45 GeV^{2}, at W=2.21 GeV. The results of our pioneering -u≈-u_{min} study demonstrate the existence of a unanticipated backward-angle cross section peak and the feasibility of full L/T/LT/TT separations in this never explored kinematic territory. At Q^{2}=2.45 GeV^{2}, the observed dominance of σ_{T} over σ_{L}, is qualitatively consistent with the collinear QCD description in the near-backward regime, in which the scattering amplitude factorizes into a hard subprocess amplitude and baryon to meson transition distribution amplitudes: universal nonperturbative objects only accessible through backward-angle kinematics.

Nucleon structure studies with the PANDA experiment at FAIR

The PANDA experiment is one of the major projects in preparation at the upcoming FAIR facility in Darmstadt, Germany. A multipurpose high energy physics detector is currently under construction and will be operated at the High Energy Storage Ring of FAIR. High intensity antiproton beams will be available in the momentum range between 1.5 GeV/c and 15 GeV/c and will allow to address a broad physics program including hadron spectroscopy, study of charm and strangeness in nuclei, hypernuclear physics and other QCD topics. In addition, the PANDA experiment will offer unique possibilities to investigate the structure of the proton using different electromagnetic processes. In this contribution, the PANDA physics program related to the nucleon structure aspects is discussed. Feasibility studies of electromagnetic processes for the measurements of proton electromagnetic form factors in the time-like region and the nucleon-to-meson transition distribution amplitudes at PANDA, are reported.

Hard exclusive pion electroproduction at backward angles with CLAS

We report on the first measurement of cross sections for exclusive deeply virtual pion electroproduction off the proton, ep→e′nπ+, above the resonance region at backward pion center-of-mass angles. The φπ⁎-dependent cross sections were measured, from which we extracted three combinations of structure functions of the proton. Our results are compatible with calculations based on nucleon-to-pion transition distribution amplitudes (TDAs). These non-perturbative objects are defined as matrix elements of three-quark-light-cone-operators and characterize partonic correlations with a particular emphasis on baryon charge distribution inside a nucleon.

Backward charmonium production in πN collisions

The QCD collinear factorization framework allows to describe exclusive backward production of a $J/\psi$ meson in pion-nucleon collisions in terms of pion-to-nucleon transition distribution amplitudes. We calculate the scattering amplitude at the leading order in the strong coupling constant and estimate the cross section of this reaction in the backward kinematical region for a medium energy pion beam available at the J-Parc experimental facility.

Feasibility study for the measurement of πN transition distribution amplitudes at P¯ANDA in p¯p→J/ψπ0

The exclusive charmonium production process in $\bar{p}p$ annihilation with an associated $\pi^0$ meson $\bar{p}p\to J/\psi\pi^0$ is studied in the framework of QCD collinear factorization. The feasibility of measuring this reaction through the $J/\psi\to e^+e^-$ decay channel with the PANDA (AntiProton ANnihilation at DArmstadt) experiment is investigated. Simulations on signal reconstruction efficiency as well as the background rejection from various sources including the $\bar{p}p\to\pi^+\pi^-\pi^0$ and $\bar{p}p\to J/\psi\pi^0\pi^0$ reactions are performed with PandaRoot, the simulation and analysis software framework of the PANDA experiment. It is shown that the measurement can be done at PANDA with significant constraining power under the assumption of an integrated luminosity attainable in four to five months of data taking at the maximum design luminosity.

Baryon-to-Meson Transition Distribution Amplitudes: Formalism and Models

In specific kinematics, hard exclusive amplitudes may be factorized into a short distance dominated part computable in a perturbative way on the one hand, and universal, confinement related hadronic matrix elements on the other hand. The extension of this description to processes such as backward meson electroproduction and forward meson production in antiproton-nucleon scattering leads to define new hadronic matrix elements of three quark operators on the light cone, the nucleon-to-meson transition distribution amplitudes, which shed a new light on the nucleon structure.

Nucleon structure observables with PANDA

The PANDA detector will be built as a part of the future FAIR facility in Darmstadt. The availability of an antiproton beam with beam momenta up to 15 GeV/c will make possible a broad nuclear physics program. Topics like hadron spectroscopy in the charmonium mass region, the property of hadrons inside nuclear matter, hypernuclear physics, or nucleon properties using electromagnetic processes are part of the physics program of PANDA. The main part of this contribution concentrates on the feasibility of measurement of nucleon structure observables, such as electromagnetic form factors or transition distribution amplitudes, via experiments using electromagnetic processes in PANDA.

Experimental access to Transition Distribution Amplitudes with the P̄ANDA experiment at FAIR

Baryon-to-meson Transition Distribution Amplitudes (TDAs) encoding valuable new information on hadron structure appear as building blocks in the collinear factorized description for several types of hard exclusive reactions. In this paper, we address the possibility of accessing nucleon-to-pion (pi N) TDAs from (p) over barp -> e(+)e(-)pi(0) reaction with the future PANDA detector at the FAIR facility. At high center-of-mass energy and high invariant mass squared of the lepton pair q(2), the amplitude of the signal channel (p) over barp -> e(+)e(-)pi(0) admits a QCD factorized description in terms of pi N TDAs and nucleon Distribution Amplitudes (DAs) in the forward aid backward kinematic regimes. Assuming the validity of this factorized description, we perform feasibility studies for measuring (p) over barp -> e(+)e(-)pi(0) with the PANDA detector. Detailed simulations on signal reconstruction efficiency as well as on rejection of the most severe background channel, i.e. (p) over barp -> pi(+)pi(-)pi(0) were performed for the center-of-mass energy squared s = 5 GeV2 and s = 10 GeV2, in the kinematic regions 3.0 0.5 in the proton-antiproton center-of-mass frame. Results of the simulation show that the particle identification capabilities of the PANDA detector will allow to achieve a background rejection factor of 5 . 10(7) (1 . 10(7)) at low (high) q(2) for s = 5 GeV2, and of 1 . 10(8) (6 . 10(6)) at low (high) q(2) for s = 10 GeV2, while keeping the signal reconstruction efficiency at around 40%. At both energies, a clean lepton signal can be reconstructed with the expected statistics corresponding to 2 of integrated luminosity. The cross sections obtained from the simulations are used to show that a test of QCD collinear factorization can be done at the lowest order by measuring scaling laws and angular distributions. The future measurement of the signal channel cross section with PANDA will provide a new test of the perturbative QCD description of a novel class of hard exclusive reactions and will open the possibility of experimentally accessing pi N TDAs.

QCD description of backward vector meson hard electroproduction

We consider backward vector meson exclusive electroproduction off nucleons in the framework of collinear QCD factorization. Nucleon to vector meson transition distribution amplitudes (TDAs) arise as building blocks for the corresponding factorized amplitudes. In the near-backward kinematics, the suggested factorization mechanism results in the dominance of the transverse cross section of vector meson production (${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{T}\ensuremath{\gg}{\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{L}$) and in the characteristic $1/{Q}^{8}$-scaling behavior of the cross section. We evaluate nucleon to vector meson TDAs in the cross-channel nucleon exchange model and present estimates of the differential cross section for backward ${\ensuremath{\rho}}^{0}$, $\ensuremath{\omega}$ and $\ensuremath{\phi}$ meson production off protons. The resulting cross sections are shown to be measurable in the forthcoming JLab@12 GeV experiments.

First results of proton antiproton annihilation into a pion pair at large scattering angles within the handbag approach

We propose to describe the process p p̄ → π+ π− in a perturbative, QCD motivated framework in which a hard udūd̄ → d d̄ annihilation factorizes from soft transition distribution amplitudes. We advocate that the scale allowing for this factorization is the large transverse momentum transfer. In our simplified model, in which the proton is considered as a (scalar)diqark-quark system, a transition distribution amplitude describes the non-perturbative transition of the proton to the meson by emission of a scalar, isoscalar ud-diquark and absorption of an antiquark (analogously for p̄ → π−). We model the transition distribution amplitudes as an overlap of light-cone wave functions and present first results for the differential cross section. This process will be measured by the experiment at GSI-FAIR.

Production of heavy meson pairs in pp̄ collisions within a double handbag approach

We study the pair-production of heavy mesons in proton-antiproton annihilations within a perturbative QCD-motivated framework. In particular we investigate pp̄ → D0 within a double handbag approach, where a hard subprocess factorizes from soft hadronic matrix elements. The soft matrix elements can be parametrized by transition distribution amplitudes, which are off-diagonal in flavor space. The transition distribution amplitudes are modelled as overlaps of light-cone wave functions. We obtain rather robust model results for pp̄ → D0 cross sections, which are expected to be measured at the future detector at GSI-FAIR.

D 0 ¯ D 0 $\overline {D^{0}} D^{0}$ -production in p p ̄ $p\bar {p}$ -collisions within a double handbag approach

We estimate the scattering amplitude of the process \( p \bar {p} \,\to \, \overline {D^{0}} D^{0}\) within a double-handbag framework where transition distribution amplitudes, calculated through an overlap representation, factorize from a hard subprocess. This process will be measured in the \(\overline {\text {P}}\text {ANDA}\) experiment at GSI-FAIR.

πNTDAs from charmonium production in association with a forward pion at P̅ANDA

Charmonium production in association with a forward or backward pion in nucleon-antinucleon annihilation is one of the most promising reaction to access nucleon-to-pion transition distribution amplitudes (TDAs) at PANDA. We briefly review the description of this reaction in terms of \pi N TDAs within the collinear factorization approach and present the first results of dedicated feasibility studies for the PANDA experimental setup.

Nucleon-to-Pion Transition Distribution Amplitudes: A Challenge for P̄ANDA

Baryon-to-meson transition distribution amplitudes (TDAs) appear as building blocks in the collinear factorized description of amplitudes for a class of hard exclusive reactions, prominent examples being hard exclusive pion electroproduction off a nucleon in the backward region and baryon-antibaryon annihilation into a pion and a lepton pair or a charmonium. Baryon-to-meson TDAs extend both the concepts of generalized parton distributions and baryon distribution amplitudes encoding valuable complementary information on the hadronic structure. We review the basic properties of baryon-to-meson TDAs and discuss the perspectives for the experimental access with the P̄ANDA detector.