We have developped a fitting code based on the leading-twist handbag Deep Virtual Compton Scattering (DVCS) amplitude in order to extract the Generalized Parton Distributions (GPD) information from DVCS observables in the valence region. In a first stage, with simulations and pseudo-data, we show that the full GPD information can be recovered from experimental data if enough observables are measured. If only part of these observables are measured, valuable information can still be extracted, certain observables being particularly sensitive to certain GPDs. In a second stage, we make a practical application of this code to the recent DVCS Jefferson Lab Hall A data from which we can extract numerical constraints for the two $H$ GPD Compton Form Factors.
We present the results of a fitter code which aims at extracting Compton Form Factors (CFFs) from DVCS (Deep Virtual Compton Scattering) experimental data, in a largely model-independent way. CFFs are linked to GPDs (Generalized parton Distributions) and are the quantities which are directly measurable. The data that we have analyzed are from JLab and HERMES experiments. We obtain some first important constraints on the $H$ and $\tilde{H}$ CFFs. The kinematical dependences ($x_B$, $t$) of these CFFs provide some new insights on nucleon structure.
The CLAS and Hall A collaborations at Jefferson Laboratory have recently released new results for the ep->epγ reaction. We analyze these new data within the Generalized Parton Distribution formalism. Employing a fitter algorithm introduced and used in earlier works, we are able to extract from these data new constraints on the kinematical dependence of three Compton Form Factors. Based on experimental data, we subsequently extract the dependence of the proton charge radius on the quarks longitudinal momentum fraction.
The positivity bounds on generalized parton distributions are derived from the positivity properties of the absorptive part of the amplitude of the virtual Compton scattering in the generalized Bjorken region.
The handbag contribution to Compton scattering at moderately large momentum transfer factorises into parton-photon subprocess amplitudes and new form factors representing 1/x-moments of skewed parton distributions. A detailed phenomenological study for polarised and unpolarised real and virtual Compton scattering is presented
The soft physics approach to form factors and Compton scattering at moderately large momentum transfer is reviewed. It will be argued that in that approach the Compton cross section is given by the Klein-Nishina cross section multiplied by a factor describing the structure of the proton in terms of two new form factors. These form factors as well as the ordinary electromagnetic form factors represent moments of skewed parton distributions.
We have analyzed the longitudinally polarized proton target asymmetry data of the Deep Virtual Compton process recently published by the HERMES collaboration in terms of Generalized Parton Distributions. We have fitted these new data in a largely model-independent fashion and the procedure results in numerical constraints on the $\tilde{H}_\mathrm{Im}$ Compton Form Factor. We present its $t-$ and $ξ-$ dependencies. We also find improvement on the determination of two other Compton Form Factors, $H_\mathrm{Re}$ and $H_\mathrm{Im}$.
The soft physics approach to Compton scattering at moderately large momentum transfer is reviewed. It will be argued that in that approach the Compton cross section as well as other exclusive observables exhibit approximate scaling in a limited range of momentum transfer. Invited talk held at the workshop on exclusive and semi-exclusive processes at high momentum transfer, Jefferson Lab, May (1999).
We have analyzed the beam spin asymmetry and the longitudinally polarized target spin asymmetry of the Deep Virtual Compton Scattering process, recently measured by the Jefferson Lab CLAS collaboration. Our aim is to extract information about the Generalized Parton Distributions of the proton. By fitting these data, in a largely model-independent procedure, we are able to extract numerical values for the two Compton Form Factors $H_{Im}$ and $\tilde{H}_{Im}$ with uncertainties, in average, of the order of 30%.
We show that the one-loop QCD correction to deeply-virtual Compton scattering can be factorized into the finite perturbative contributions and the collinearly-divergent terms, which correspond to the matrix elements of the off-forward parton distributions. As a by-product, we obtain the next-to-leading order coefficient functions in the generalized operator product expansion of two vector currents.
In the following, the subject of Deep Virtual Compton Scattering on the nucleon and its relation to the recently introduced concept of Generalized Parton Distributions are briefly reviewed. The general theoretical framework and the links between theory and experiment will be outlined and the recently published data which look promising for the development of this field will be discussed. Finally, the experimental prospectives of the domain will be presented.
Recently dispersion relations have been applied to hard exclusive processes such as deeply virtual Compton scattering, and a holographic principle was proposed that maps out the generalized parton distributions entering the soft matrix elements for the processes from their values on a given kinematical ridge. We examine possible pitfalls associated with the implicit, direct identification in this approach of the physical hadronic states with colored partons, and suggest an improved treatment of this assumption.
This work reviews the recent developments in the field of Generalized Parton Distributions (GPDs) and Deeply virtual Compton scattering in the valence region, which aim at extracting the quark structure of the nucleon. We discuss the constraints which the present generation of measurements provide on GPDs, and examine several state-of-the-art parametrizations of GPDs. Future directions in this active field are discussed.
The hard exclusive electroproduction processes provide new information about hadronic structure accumulated in nonforward parton distributions. The NFPD's are universal hybrid functions having the properties of parton densities, hadronic form factors and distribution amplitudes. They give a unified description of various hard exclusive and inclusive reactions. The basic supplier of information about nonforward parton distributions is deeply virtual Compton scattering which offers a remarkable example of Bjorken scaling phenomena in exclusive processes. Wide-angle real Compton scattering is an …
At moderate and large momentum transfer, high energy vector meson photoproduction and Compton scattering can be consistently explained by mechanisms based on interactions and exchanges of constituent quarks and gluons. This opens an original window on the partonic structure of hadronic matter by emphasizing the role of quark correlations, quark exchange as implemented through saturating Regge trajectories and non-perturbative effects in the gluon propagator, which provides us with a bridge with lattice calculations. Compton scattering is directly related to vector meson photoproduction and enl…
The HERMES collaboration has recently published a set of (correlated) beam charge, beam spin and target spin relative asymmetries for the Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering process. This reaction allows in principle to access the Generalized Parton Distributions of the nucleon. We have fitted, in the QCD leading-order and leading-twist handbag approximation, but in a model independent way, this set of data and we report our results for the extracted Compton Form Factors. In particular, we are able to extract constrains on the $H$ GPD.
We calculate the one-loop QCD virtual corrections to all helicity amplitudes for parton level virtual Compton scattering processes. We include the amplitudes both on quark target process $γ^* q\toγq$ and on gluon target process $γ^*g\toγg$. The infrared pole structure of the amplitudes is in agreement with the prediction of Catani's general formalism for the singularities of one-loop amplitudes, while expressions for the finite remainder are given in terms of logarithms and dilogarithms that are real in the physical region.
We present a method which allows to extract theoretical informations out of a limited set of experimental data and observables, forming up in general an under- constrained system. It has been applied to the field of nucleon structure, in the domain of Generalized Parton Distributions (GPDs). We take advantage of this review to remove a couple of approximations that we used in our previous works and update our results using the latest data published.
We relate ordinary and skewed parton distributions to soft overlap contributions to elastic form factors and large angle Compton scattering, using light-cone wave functions in a Fock state expansion of the nucleon. With a simple ansatz for the wave functions of the three lowest Fock states we achieve a good description of unpolarised and polarised parton distributions at large x, and of the data for the Dirac form factor and for Compton scattering, both of which can be saturated with soft contributions only. Large angle Compton scattering appears as a good case to investigate the relative impo…
We consider deeply virtual Compton scattering on a photon target, in the generalized Bjorken limit, at the Born order and in the leading logarithmic approximation. We interpret the result as a factorized amplitude of a hard process described by handbag diagrams and anomalous generalized parton distributions in the photon. This anomalous part, with its characteristic ln Q2 dependence, is present both in the DGLAP and in the ERBL regions. As a consequence, these generalized parton distributions of the photon obey DGLAP-ERBL evolution equations with an inhomogeneous term.
Within the framework of the Color Glass Condensate model, we evaluate quark and gluon Generalized Parton Distributions (GPDs) and the cross section of Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering (DVCS) in the small-$x_{B}$ region. We demonstrate that the DVCS cross section becomes independent of energy in the limit of very small $x_{B}$, which clearly indicates saturation of the DVCS cross section. Our predictions for the GPDs and the DVCS cross section at high-energies can be tested at the future Electron-Ion Collider and in ultra-peripheral nucleus-nucleus collisions at the LHC.
We present a physically motivated parametrization of the chiral-even generalized parton distributions in the non-singlet sector obtained from a global analysis using a set of available experimental data. Our analysis is valid in the kinematical region of intermediate Bjorken $x$ and for $Q^2$ in the multi-GeV region which is accessible at present and currently planned facilities. Relevant data included in our fit are from the nucleon elastic form factors measurements, from deep inelastic scattering experiments. Additional information provided by lattice calculations of the higher moments of ge…
The Generalized Parton Distributions (GPDs) constitute an appropriate framework for a universal description of the partonic structure of the nucleon. Double Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering (DDVCS) process provides the only experimental way to measure independently the dependences of the GPDs on the average and transferred momentum. This proceeding discusses the feasibility of a DDVCS experiment in the context of JLab 12 GeV, model-predicted pseudo-data, and extraction of the relevant GPDs information based on a fitter algorithm.
Parton distributions in impact parameter space, which are obtained by Fourier transforming GPDs, exhibit a significant deviation from axial symmetry when target and/or quark are transversely polarized. In combination with the final state interactions, this transverse deformation provides a natural mechanism for naive-T odd transverse single-spin asymmetries in semi-inclusive DIS. The deformation of PDFs in impact parameter space can also be related to the transverse force acting on the active quark in polarized DIS at higher twist.
In our work, we describe two types of Compton processes. As an example of an inclusive process, we consider the high-energy photoproduction of massive muon pairs off the nucleon. We analyze the process in the framework of the QCD parton model, in which the usual parton distributions emerge as a tool to describe the nucleon in terms of quark and gluonic degrees of freedom. To study its exclusive version, a new class of phenomenological functions is required, namely, generalized parton distributions. They can be considered as a generalization of the usual parton distributions measured in deeply …
We argue that at moderately large momentum transfer -t <10 GeV^2, hadronic form factors and wide-angle Compton scattering amplitudes are dominated by mechanism corresponding to overlap of soft wave functions. We show that the soft contribution in both cases can be described in terms of the same universal nonforward parton densities (ND's) F(x;t), which are the simplest hybrids of the usual parton densities and hadronic form factors. We propose a simple model for ND's possessing required reduction properties. Our model easily reproduces the observed magnitude and the dipole t-dependence of the …
We present a new model for generalized parton distributions (GPDs), based on the aligned jet model, which successfully describes the deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) data from H1, ZEUS, HERMES and CLAS. We also present an easily implementable and flexible algorithm for their construction. This new model is necessary since the most widely used models for GPDs, which are based on factorized double distributions, cannot, in their current form, describe the DVCS data when employed in a full QCD analysis. We demonstrate explicitly the reason for the shortcoming in the data description. We a…
We discuss a consistent treatment of the light-front gauge-boson and meson wave functions in the analyses of the generalized parton distributions(GPDs) and the scattering amplitudes in deeply virtual Compton scattering(DVCS) for the pion. The continuity of the GPDs at the crossover, where the longitudinal momentum fraction of the probed quark is same with the skewedness parameter, and the finiteness of the DVCS amplitude are ensured if the same light-front radial wave function as that of the meson bound state wave function is used for the gauge boson bound state arising from the pair-creation(…
In this work, we present a new set of unpolarized ($ H $) and polarized ($\widetilde{H}$) generalized parton distributions (GPDs) that have been determined using a simultaneous $ χ^2 $ analysis of the nucleon axial form factor (AFF) and wide-angle Compton scattering (WACS) experimental data at the next-to-leading order (NLO) accuracy in QCD. We explore various Ansatzes presented in the literature for GPDs, which use forward parton distributions as input, and choose the ones most suited to our analysis. The experimental data included in our analysis cover a wide range of the squared transverse …
Using the similarity between twist 3 contributions to transverse spin for usual parton distributions and transverse momentum for non-diagonal parton distributions, we determine for the simple case of a scalar (pion, $He^4$) target the linear in transverse momentum twist-3 contribution to Deeply Virtual Compton amplitude. This allows to write a gauge invariant amplitude for this non-forward process.
Applications of perturbative QCD to deeply virtual Compton scattering process require a generalization of usual parton distributions for the case when long-distance information is accumulated in nonforward matrix elements of quark and gluon operators. We discuss two types of functions parametrizing such matrix elements: double distributions F(x,y;t) and nonforward distribution functions \cal F_ζ(X;t) and also their relation to usual parton densities f(x).
Applications of perturbative QCD to deeply virtual Compton scattering and hard exclusive electroproduction processes require a generalization of the usual parton distributions for the case when long-distance information is accumulated in nondiagonal matrix elements of quark and gluon light-cone operators. I describe two types of nonperturbative functions parametrizing such matrix elements: double distributions and skewed parton distributions. I discuss their general properties, relation to the usual parton densities and form factors, evolution equations for both types of generalized parton dis…
We investigate corrections to the handbag approach for wide-angle Compton scattering off protons at moderately large momentum transfer: the photon-parton subprocess is calculated to next-to-leading order QCD and contributions from the generalized parton distribution E} are taken into account. Photon and proton helicity flip amplitudes are non-zero due to these corrections which leads to a wealth of polarization phenomena in Compton scattering. Thus, for instance, the incoming photon asymmetry or the transverse polarization of the proton are non-zero although small.
Standard parton distribution functions contain neither information on the correlations between partons nor on their transverse motion, then a vital knowledge about the three dimensional structure of the nucleon is lost. Hard exclusive processes, in particular DVCS, are essential reactions to go beyond this standard picture. In the following, we examine the most recent data and their implication on the quarks/gluons imaging (tomography) of the nucleon.
We calculate the one-loop corrections to a general off-forward deeply-virtual Compton process at leading twist for both parton helicity-dependent and independent cases. We show that the infrared divergences can be factorized entirely into off-forward parton distributions, even when one of the two photons is onshell. We argue that this property persists to all orders in perturbation theory. We obtain the next-to-leading order Wilson coefficients for the general leading-twist expansion of the product of two electromagnetic currents in the \overline{\rm MS} scheme.
We present a sample of results of our work to be published soon on Timelike Compton scattering off the proton, in the framework of the Generalized Parton Distributions formalism.
We review the recent developments of virtual Compton scattering. We focus on the kinematical regimes which look the most promising. The threshold regime gives access to the generalized polarizabilities of the proton. The hard scattering regime allows tests of perturbative QCD predictions and of the valence quark wave function. The Bjorken regime is closely related to deep inelastic scattering. It gives access to the off-forward parton distributions which generalize the ordinary parton distributions and may shed a new light on the spin problem. For each regime we discuss the experimental perspe…
Standard parton distribution functions contain neither information on the correlations between partons nor on their transverse motion, then a vital knowledge about the three dimensional structure of the nucleon is lost. Hard exclusive processes, in particular DVCS, are essential reactions to go beyond this standard picture. In the following, we examine the most recent data in view of the dipole model predictions and their implication on the quarks/gluons imaging (tomography) of the nucleon.
We argue that due to parity constraints, the helicity combination of the purely momentum space counterparts of the Wigner distributions -- the generalized transverse momentum distributions -- that describes the configuration of an unpolarized quark in a longitudinally polarized nucleon, can enter the deeply virtual Compton scattering amplitude only through matrix elements involving a final state interaction. The relevant matrix elements in turn involve light cone operators projections in the transverse direction, or they appear in the deeply virtual Compton scattering amplitude at twist three.…
A detailed study of the heavy quark h=c,b,... contributions to deeply virtual Compton scattering is performed at both the amplitude and the cross section level, and their phenomenological relevance is discussed. For this purpose I calculate the lowest order off-forward photon-gluon scattering amplitude with a massive quark loop and the corresponding hard scattering coefficients. In a first numerical analysis these fixed order perturbation theory results are compared with the conventional intrinsic "massless" parton approach considering generalized parton distributions for the heavy quarks. The…
In the framework of Generalised Parton Distributions, we study the helicity-dependent and independent cross sections measured in Hall A and the beam spin asymmetries measured in Hall B at Jefferson Laboratory. We perform a global fit of these data and fits on each kinematical bin. We extract the real and imaginary parts of the Compton Form Factor $\mathcal{H}$ under the main hypothesis of dominance of the Generalised Parton Distribution $H$ and twist 2 accuracy. We discuss our results and compare to previous extractions as well as to the VGG model. We pay extra attention to the estimation of e…
We present the recent experimental results from deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) from H1 and ZEUS experiments at HERA. Their interpretation encoded in the generalized parton distributions is discussed.
In 2011 Radyushkin outlined the practical implementation of the One-Component Double Distribution formalism in realistic Generalized Parton Distribution models. We compare the One-Component Double Distribution framework to the standard one and compute Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering observables for both. In particular the new implementation is more flexible, offering a greater range of variation of the real and imaginary parts of the associated Compton Form Factor while still allowing to recover results similar to the classical approach. Moreover the polynomiality property is satisfied up to…
We study deeply virtual Compton scattering on a virtual pion that is emitted by a proton. Using a range of models for the generalized parton distributions of the pion, we evaluate the cross section, as well as the beam spin and beam charge asymmetries in the leading-twist approximation. Studying Compton scattering on the pion in suitable kinematics puts high demands on both beam energy and luminosity, and we find that the corresponding requirements will first be met after the energy upgrade at Jefferson Laboratory. As a by-product of our study, we construct a parameterization of pion generaliz…
We identify quark and gluon helicity-flip distributions defined between nucleon states of unequal momenta. The evolution of these distributions with change of renormalization scale is calculated in the leading-logarithmic approximation. The helicity-flip gluon distributions do not mix with any quark distribution and are thus a unique signature of gluons in the nucleon. Their contribution to the generalized virtual Compton process is obtained both in the form of a factorization theorem and an operator product expansion. In deeply virtual Compton scattering, they can be probed through distinct a…
The handbag mechanism for wide-angle exlusive scattering reactions is discussed and compared with other theoretical approaches. Its application to Compton scattering, meson photoproduction and two-photon annihilations into pairs of hadrons is reviewed.
The overlap representation of skewed parton distributions is discussed and applications to wide-angle Compton scattering and electroproduction of mesons are presented. The amplitudes for these processes factorise into parton-level subprocess amplitudes and form factors representing 1/x-moments of skewed parton distributions.
Recently we have shown that exclusive QCD photon-induced reactions at low Mandelstam-t are best described by Regge exchanges in the entire scaling region, and not only for low values of Bjorken-x. In this paper we explore this crucial Regge behavior in Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering from the point of view of collinear factorization, with the proton tensor written in terms of Generalized Parton Distributions, and we reproduce this feature. Thus it appears that in the Bjorken limit, a large class of hard, low-t exclusive processes are more sensitive to the meson cloud of the proton than to it…
Prospects for future measurements of Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering at HERMES are studied using different simple models for parameterizations of generalized parton distributions (GPDs). Measurements of the lepton charge and lepton beam helicity asymmetry will yield important input for theoretical models towards the future extraction of GPDs.
Standard parton distribution functions contain neither information on the correlations between partons nor on their transverse motion, then a vital knowledge about the three dimensional structure of the nucleon is lost. Hard exclusive processes, in particular DVCS, are essential reactions to go beyond this standard picture. In the following, we examine the most recent data from HERA (at low $x_{Bj}<10^{-2}$) and their impact on GPD models. The most recent measurements of the Beam Charge Asymmetry by the H1 experiment is discussed. Perspectives are presented for further measurements of DVCS cro…
The information about generalized parton distributions (GPDs) extracted from exclusive meson leptoproduction within the handbag approach is summarized. Details are only discussed for the GPD E and the transversity ones. It is also commented on results for deep virtual Compton scattering evaluated from these GPDs
Exclusive processes of heavy meson production and spacelike and timelike deeply virtual Compton scattering allow us to investigate the hadron structure in terms of Generalized Parton Distributions (GPDs). We review recent developments in the NLO description of such processes.
In this note, we present a new generator for Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering processes. This generator is based on formalism of Generalized Partons Distributions evolved at Next Leading Order (NLO). In the following we give a brief description of this formalism and we explain the main features of the generator for the elastic reactions, as well as for proton dissociation.
We studied the effects of NLO $Q^2$ evolution of generalized parton distributions (GPDs) using the aligned-jet model for the singlet quark and gluon GPDs at an initial evolution scale. We found that the skewness ratio for quarks is a slow logarithmic function of $Q^2$ reaching $r^S=1.5-2$ at $Q^2=100$ GeV$^2$ and $r^g \approx 1$ for gluons in a wide range of $Q^2$. Using the resulting GPDs, we calculated the DVCS cross section on the proton in NLO pQCD and found that this model in conjunction with modern parameterizations of proton PDFs (CJ15 and CT14) provides a good description of the availa…
We compute amplitude of deeply virtual Compton scattering in the parton model. We found that the amplitude up to the accuracy O(1/Q) depends on new skewed parton distributions (SPD's). These additional contributions make the DVCS amplitude explicitly transverse.
