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 generalized parton distributions that has a non-trivial interplay between the x and t dependence and is in good agreement with form factor data and lattice calculations.
A factorized Regge-pole model for deeply virtual Compton scattering is suggested. The use of an effective logarithmic Regge-Pomeron trajectory provides for the description of both ``soft'' (small $|t|$) and ``hard'' (large $|t|$) dynamics. The model contains explicitly the photoproduction and the DIS limits and fits the existing HERA data on deeply virtual Compton scattering.
Recent results from the Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering (DVCS) program at Jefferson Lab will be presented. Approved dedicated DVCS experiments at 6 GeV and plans for the 12 GeV upgrade will be discussed.
Based on the two-gluon-exchange dynamical mechanism for deeply inelastic scattering at low x ~= Q^2/W^2 <<1, we stress the intimate connection between the total virtual photoabsorption cross section, deeply virtual Compton scattering and vector-meson electroproduction. A simple expression for the cross section for deeply virtual Compton scattering is derived. Parameter-free predictions are obtained for deeply-virtual Compton forward scattering and vector-meson forward production, once the parameters in the total virtual photoabsorption cross section are determined in a fit to the experimental …
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.
We calculate spin, charge, and azimuthal asymmetries in deeply virtual Compton scattering at leading twist-two level. The measurement of these asymmetries gives an access to the imaginary and real part of all deeply virtual Compton scattering amplitudes. We note that a consistent description of this process requires taking into account twist-three contributions and give then a model dependent estimate of these asymmetries.
We investigate the deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) in the color dipole approach, implementing the dipole cross section through the saturation model, which interpolates successfully between soft and hard regimes. The imaginary and real part of the DVCS amplitude are obtained and the results are compared to the available data.
We show that factorization holds for the deeply virtual Compton scattering amplitude in QCD, up to power suppressed terms, to all orders in perturbation theory. Furthermore, we show that the virtuality of the produced photon does not influence the general theorem.
Exclusive vector meson production and deeply virtual Compton scattering are ideally suited reactions for studying the structure of the proton and the transition from soft to hard processes. The main experimental data obtained at HERA are summarised and presented in the light of QCD approaches.
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 extend the analysis of the deeply virtual Compton scattering process to the weak interaction sector in the generalized Bjorken limit. The virtual Compton scattering amplitudes for the weak neutral and charged currents are calculated at the leading twist within the framework of the nonlocal light-cone expansion via coordinate space QCD string operators. Using a simple model, we estimate cross sections for neutrino scattering off the nucleon, relevant for future high intensity neutrino beam facilities.
The beam spin asymmetries of the reaction ep -> epg in the Bjorken regime were measured over a wide kinematical domain using the CLAS detector and a new lead-tungstate calorimeter. Through the interference of the Bethe-Heitler process with Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering, those asymmetries provide constraints for the nucleon Generalized Parton Distributions models. The observed shapes are in agreement with twist-2 dominance predictions.
We have calculated the NLO corrections to the twist-2 part of the deeply-virtual Compton scattering amplitude. Our results for the transverse and antisymmetric parts agree with recent calculations by Ji and Osborne and by Belitsky and Müller. In addition we present NLO results for the longitudinal part of the amplitude.
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.
We compute the deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) amplitude for forward and backward scattering in the asymptotic limit. Since this calculation does not assume ordering of the transverse momenta, it includes important logarithmic contributions that are beyond those summed by the DGLAP evolution. These contributions lead to a power-like behavior for the forward DVCS amplitude.
We evaluate within a microscopic calculation the contributions of both coherent and incoherent deeply virtual Compton scattering from a spin-0 nucleus. The coherent contribution is obtained when the target nucleus recoils as a whole, whereas for incoherent scattering break-up configurations for the final nucleus into a an outgoing nucleon and an $A-1$ system are considered. The two processes encode different characteristics of generalized parton distributions.
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.
We study twist-three effects in deeply virtual Compton scattering on an unpolarized spin-1/2 target. A careful definition of observables as Fourier moments w.r.t. the azimuthal angle allows for a clear separation of twist-two and -three effects. Although the latter are power suppressed, they give leading contributions to the twist-three asymmetries and do not affect the twist-two observables.
A model for deeply virtual Compton scattering, based on analytical light-cone hadron wave functions is presented and studied at energies currently accessible at Jefferson Laboratory, DESY, and beyond. It is shown that perpendicular vector components play an important role at Q^2 < 10 GeV^2 and that the meson-exchange diagrams are important at all energies. This could significantly impact the physical interpretation of the underlying hadron amplitudes.
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.
A two-gluon-exchange model incorporating perturbative and non-perturbative effects is presented for rho electroproduction which provides an excellent description of all current data. This is then used to calculate the contribution from the rho to deeply virtual Compton scattering via the vector-meson-dominance transition rho -> gamma. This is found to be sufficiently large to provide a significant contribution through interference with the perturbative QCD term.
We consider the azimuthal angle dependence in the cross section of the hard leptoproduction of a photon on a nucleon target. We show that this dependence allows to define observables that isolate the twist-two and twist-three sectors in the deeply virtual Compton scattering amplitude. All twist-two and twist-three Compton form factors can be extracted from measurements of the charge odd part of the polarized cross section and give access to all generalized parton distributions.
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).
We discuss possibilities of measurement of deeply virtual Compton scattering amplitudes via different asymmetries in order to access the underlying skewed parton distributions. Perturbative one-loop coefficient functions and two-loop evolution kernels, calculated recently by a tentative use of residual conformal symmetry of QCD, are used for a model dependent numerical estimation of scattering amplitudes.
We propose detailed tests of the handbag approximation in exclusive deeply virtual Compton scattering. Those tests make no use of any prejudice about parton correlations in the proton which are basically unknown objects and beyond the scope of perturbative QCD. Since important information on the proton substructure can be gained in the regime of light cone dominance we consider that such a class of tests is of special relevance.
We carry out the first complete calculation of kinematic power corrections ~t/Q^2 and ~m^2/Q^2 to the helicity amplitudes of deeply virtual Compton scattering. This result removes an important source of uncertainties in the QCD predictions for intermediate momentum transfers Q^2 ~ 1-10 GeV^2 that are accessible in the existing and planned experiments. In particular the finite-t corrections are significant and must be taken into account in the data analysis.
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.
We show that electromagnetic gauge invariance requires a 'spin rotation' of the quarks in the usual twist-2 contribution to the amplitude for deeply virtual Compton scattering. This rotation is equivalent to the inclusion of certain kinematical twist-3 (Wandzura-Wilczek type) terms, which have been derived previously using other methods. The new representation of the twist-3 terms is very compact and allows for a simple physical interpretation.
Several observables for the deeply virtual Compton scattering process have been simulated in the kinematic regime of a proposed Electron-Ion Collider to explore the possible impact of such measurements for the phenomenological access of generalized parton distributions. In particular, emphasis is given to the transverse distribution of sea quarks and gluons and how such measurements can provide information on the angular momentum sum rule. The exact lepton energy loss dependence for the unpolarized $t$-differential electroproduction cross section, needed for a Rosenbluth separation, is also re…
I report on an analysis of Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering (DVCS) within the dipole model, done in collaboration with M. McDermott and G. Shaw. The two models considered here are distinct in their structure and implications. They both agree with the available cross-section data on DVCS from HERA. Predictions for various asymmetries are also given.
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…
We give a complete representation of virtual Compton scattering $γ^* p \to γp$ at large initial photon virtuality $Q^2$ and small momentum transfer squared $t$ in terms of the light-cone wavefunctions of the target proton. We verify the identities between the skewed parton distributions $H(x,ζ,t)$ and $E(x,ζ,t)$ which appear in deeply virtual Compton scattering and the corresponding integrands of the Dirac and Pauli form factors $F_1(t)$ and $F_2(t)$ and the gravitational form factors $A_{q}(t)$ and $B_{q}(t)$ for each quark and anti-quark constituent. We illustrate the general formalism for t…
A new measurement is presented of elastic deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) based on data taken by the H1 detector during the complete HERA II period. The data are well described by QCD based calculations. For the first time, a beam charge asymmetry is obtained in a colliding mode, using data recorded in $e^-p$ and $e^+p$. A significant non zero value is measured, related to the interference of QCD and QED processes, namely the DVCS and Bethe-Heitler reactions.
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 study the double deeply virtual Compton scattering (DDVCS) process off the nucleon, through the scattering of a spacelike virtual photon with large virtuality resulting in the production of a timelike virtual photon, decaying into an e^+ e^- pair. This process is expressed in the Bjorken regime in terms of generalized parton distributions (GPDs) and it is shown that by varying the invariant mass of the lepton pair, one can directly extract the GPDs from the observables. We give predictions for the DDVCS cross section and beam helicity asymmetry and discuss its experimental feasibility.
We study the amplitude of deeply virtual Compton scattering in next-to-leading order of perturbation theory including the two-loop evolution effects for different sets of skewed parton distributions (SPDs). It turns out that in the minimal subtraction scheme the relative radiative corrections are of order 20-50%. We analyze the dependence of our predictions on the choice of SPD, that will allow to discriminate between possible models of SPDs from future high precision experimental data, and discuss shortly theoretical uncertainties induced by the radiative corrections.
We study deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) on a deuteron target. We model the Generalized Quark Distributions in the deuteron by using the impulse approximation for the lowest Fock-space state. Numerical predictions are given for the unpolarized cross sections for the kinematical regimes relevant for JLab and HERMES at HERA. Differential cross sections show the same pattern as for the proton case and at low values of t they are of comparable size.
We demonstrate that the measurement of an azimuthal angle asymmetry in deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) at HERA energies, is experimentally feasible and allows one to determine for the first time the ratio $η$, of the real to imaginary part of the DIS amplitude. We further show that such a measurement would discriminate between different scenarios of the energy dependence of $F_2(x,Q^2)$ at energies beyond those reachable at HERA.
I derive an all-order resummation formula for the logarithmically enhanced contributions proportional to $\frac{α_s^n}{x \pm ξ} \log (\frac{ξ\pm x}{2ξ})^k$ in the quark coefficient function of deeply-virtual-Compton scattering and the pion-photon transition form factor in momentum space. The resummation is performed at the next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy. The key observation is that the quark coefficient function itself factorizes in the $x \rightarrow \pm ξ$ limit, which allows for a resummation using renormalization group equations. A preliminary numerical analysis suggests that…
We study perturbative QCD corrections to deeply virtual Compton scattering on an unpolarized nucleon target in the flavor non-singlet sector to next-to-next-to-leading order accuracy, restricting ourselves to the kinematically dominant amplitude. The difference between the standard minimal subtraction and the conformal scheme, in which conformal symmetry is manifest, is studied to next-to-leading order. Beyond this order we employ conformal symmetry for the evaluation of perturbative corrections. Within a certain class of generalized parton distributions we find moderate radiative corrections.
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.
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.
Using a soft pion theorem based on chiral symmetry and a $Δ(1232)$ resonance model we propose an estimate for the production cross section of low energy pions in the deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) process. In particular, we express the $e p \to e γπN$ processes in terms of generalized parton distributions. We provide estimates of the contamination of the $e p \to e γp$ DVCS observables due to this associated pion production processes when the experimental data are not fully exclusive, for a set of kinematical conditions representative of present or planned experiments at JLab, HERMES…
We study in QCD the physics of deeply-virtual Compton scattering (DVCS)---the virtual Compton process in the large s and small t kinematic region. We show that DVCS can probe a new type of off-forward parton distributions. We derive an Altarelli-Parisi type of evolution equations for these distributions. We also derive their sum rules in terms of nucleon form-factors of the twist-two quark and gluon operators. In particular, we find that the second sum rule is related to fractions of the nucleon spin carried separately by quarks and gluons. We estimate the cross section for DVCS and compare it…
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.
Deeply-virtual Compton scattering gives access to the generalized parton distributions that encode the information on the transverse position of quarks and gluons in the proton in dependence in their longitudinal momentum. In anticipation of the high-precision experimental data in a broad kinematic range from the Electron-Ion Collider, we have calculated the two-loop, next-to-next-to-leading (NNLO) DVCS coefficient functions associated with the dominant Compton form factors $\mathcal H$ and $\mathcal E$ at large energies. The NNLO correction to the imaginary part of $\mathcal H$ appears to be …
S.~Brodsky, F.~J.~Llanes-Estrada, and A.~Szczepaniak emphasized the importance of the $J=0$ fixed pole manifestation in real and (deeply) virtual Compton scattering measurements and argued that the $J=0$ fixed pole is universal, {\it i.e.}, independent on the photon virtualities \cite{Brodsky:2008qu}. In this paper we review the $J=0$ fixed pole issue in deeply virtual Compton scattering. We employ the dispersive approach to derive the sum rule that connects the $J=0$ fixed pole contribution and the subtraction constant, called the $D$-term form factor for deeply virtual Compton scattering. We…
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…
At moderately low momentum transfer (-t up to 1 GeV^2) the coupling to the vector meson production channels gives the dominant contribution to real Compton and deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS). Starting from a Regge Pole approach that successfully describes vector meson production, the singular part of the corresponding box diagrams (where the intermediate vector meson-baryon pair propagates on-shell) is evaluated without any further assumptions (unitarity). Such a treatment explains not only the unexpectedly large DVCS unpolarized cross section that has been recently measured at Jeffe…
We present a full evaluation of the deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) cross section in the dipole framework in the small-x region. The result features the $\cos ϕ$ and $\cos 2ϕ$ azimuthal angular correlations which have been missing in previous studies based on the dipole model. In particular, the $\cos 2ϕ$ term is generated by the elliptic gluon Wigner distribution whose measurement at the planned electron-ion collider (EIC) provides an important information about the gluon tomography at small-x. We also show the consistency with the standard collinear factorization approach based on t…
We study timelike and spacelike virtual Compton scattering in the generalized Bjorken scaling regime at next to leading order in the strong coupling constant, in the medium energy range which will be studied intensely at JLab12 and in the COMPASS-II experiment at CERN. We show that the Born amplitudes get sizeable O(α_s) corrections and, even at moderate energies, the gluonic contributions are by no means negligible. We stress that the timelike and spacelike cases are complementary and that their difference deserves much special attention.
We calculate the O(alpha_s) corrections to the timelike, spacelike and double deeply virtual Compton scattering amplitudes in the generalized Bjorken scaling region. Special attention is devoted to studies of the difference between the next to leading order timelike and spacelike coefficient functions, which plays for this process a role analogous to the large K factor which was much discussed in the analysis of inclusive Drell Yan cross sections. Also in the present studies the timelike nature of the hard scale gives rise to new absorptive part of the amplitude and to the presence of characte…
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 report on a calculation to show that the Fourier transform of the Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering (DVCS) amplitude with respect to the skewness variable ζat fixed invariant momentum transfer squared t gives results that are analogous to the diffractive scattering of a wave in optics. As a specific example, we utilize the quantum fluctuations of a fermion state at one loop in QED to obtain the behavior of the DVCS amplitude for electron-photon scattering. We then simulate the wavefunctions for a hadron by differentiating the above LFWFs with respect to M^2 and study the corresponding DVCS …
The study of deeply virtual Compton scattering has shown that electromagnetic gauge invariance requires, to leading order, not only twist two but additional twist three contributions. We apply this analysis and, using the Ellis-Furmanski-Petronzio factorization scheme, compute the single (electron) spin asymmetry arising in the collision of longitudinally polarized electrons with hadrons up to twist 3 accuracy. In order to simplify the kinematics we restrict the actual calculation to pions in the chiral limit. The process is described in terms of the generalized parton distribution functions w…
