Exclusive processes in hard electroproduction is one of the best place for understanding the factorization properties of QCD. The HERA experiment recently provided precise data for rho electroproduction, including all spin density matrix elements. From QCD, it is expected that such a process should factorize between a hard (calculable) coefficient function, and hadronic (p and rho) matrix elements. Such a factorization is up to now only proven for a longitudinaly polarized rho. Within the kt-factorization approach (valid at large s_{gamma* p}), we evaluate the impact factor of the transition gamma* -> rhoT taking into account the twist 3 contributions. We show that a gauge invariant expression is obtained with the help of QCD equations of motion. More generally, relying on these equations and on the invariance under rotation on the light-cone of the factorized amplitude, the non-perturbative Distribution Amplitudes can be reduced to a minimal set. This opens the way to a consistent treatment of factorization for exclusive processes with a transversally polarized vector meson. We prove the equivalence of two proposed parametrizations of the rhoT distribution amplitudes.
We evaluate the impact factor of the transition gamma* -> rhoT taking into account the twist 3 contributions. We show that a gauge invariant expression is obtained with the help of QCD equations of motion. Our results are free of end-point singularities. This opens the way to a consistent treatment of factorization for exclusive processes with a transversally polarized vector meson.
Exclusive electroproduction of vector mesons is a crucial way to probe QCD factorization properties. Such a factorization is up to now only proven, at the twist 2 level, for a longitudinaly polarized meson. It is crucial to extend our understanding to the case of transversely polarized vector mesons. As a first step in this direction, we evaluate the impact factor of the transition gamma* -> rhoT, which is the relevant part of the amplitude within the kt-factorization approach valid at large energies, taking into account the twist 3 contributions, coming both from quark antiquark and from quar…
Within the kt-factorization approach, we evaluate the impact factor of the transition gamma* -> rhoT taking into account the twist 3 contributions. We show that a gauge invariant expression is obtained with the help of QCD equations of motion. More generally, relying on these equations and on the invariance under rotation on the light-cone of the factorized amplitude, the non-perturbative Distribution Amplitudes can be reduced to a minimal set. This opens the way to a consistent treatment of factorization for exclusive processes with a transversally polarized vector meson. We prove the equival…
Exclusive processes in hard electroproduction are one of the best place for understanding QCD in view of its factorization properties. In particular, in the limit of asymptotic gamma* p center of mass energy, they give an access to the perturbative Regge properties of QCD. The HERA experiment recently provided precise data for rho electroproduction, including all spin density matrix elements. From QCD, it is expected that such a process should factorize between a hard (calculable) coefficient function, and hadronic (p and rho) matrix elements. Such a factorization is up to now only proven for …
We describe a consistent approach to factorization of scattering amplitudes for exclusive processes beyond the leading twist approximation. The method involves the Taylor expansion of the scattering amplitude in the momentum space around the dominant light-cone direction and thus naturally introduces an appropriate set of non-perturbative correlators which encode effects not only of the lowest but also of the higher Fock states of the produced particle. The reduction of original set of correlators to a set of independent ones is achieved with the help of equations of motion and invariance of t…
We use recent results for the gamma*L -> rhoL and gamma*T -> rhoT impact factors, computed in the impact parameter representation within the collinear factorization scheme, to get predictions for the polarized cross-sections sigmaT and sigmaL of the diffractive leptoproduction of the rho meson at high energy. In this approach the helicity amplitude is a convolution of the scattering amplitude of a color dipole with a target, together with the virtual gamma wave function and with the first moments of the rho meson wave function (in the transverse momentum space), given by the distribution ampli…
The chiral-odd transversity generalized parton distributions (GPDs) of the nucleon can be accessed experimentally through the exclusive photoproduction process gamma + N -> pi + rho + N', in the kinematics where the meson pair has a large invariant mass and the final nucleon has a small transverse momentum, provided the vector meson is produced in a transversally polarized state. We calculate perturbatively the scattering amplitude at leading order in alpha_s. We build a simple model for the dominant transversity GPD H_T(x,xi, t) based on the concept of double distribution. We estimate the unp…
The chiral-odd transversity generalized parton distributions of the nucleon can be accessed experimentally through the exclusive photoproduction process gamma N -> pi rhoT N', with or without beam and target polarization, provided the vector meson is produced in a transversely polarized state. The kinematical domain of factorization is defined through a large invariant mass of the meson pair and a small transverse momentum of the final nucleon. We calculate perturbatively the scattering amplitude at leading order in alpha_s and build a simple model for the dominant transversity GPD H_T(x, xi, …
We review here two approaches to describe hard leptoproduction of transversally polarized rho-meson, based on recent calculation of the gamma*T -> rhoT impact factor up to twist 3 accuracy in the collinear factorization frame, including 2- and 3- particles Fock-states. The first approach uses a model of the unintegrated gluon density (the proton impact factor) which allows a comparison of our predictions with H1 and ZEUS data for the ratios of helicity amplitudes T(gamma*T -> rhoT)/T(gamma*L -> rhoL) and T(gamma*T -> rhoL)/T(gamma*L -> rhoL). In the second approach, we transform the gamma*T ->…
We link the recent computation beyond leading twist of the impact factor of the transition gamma*T -> rhoT performed in the light-cone collinear approach, to the dipole picture by expressing the hard part of the process through its Fourier transform in coordinate space. We show that in the Wandzura-Wilczek approximation the impact factor up to twist 3 factorises in the wave function of the photon combined with the distribution amplitudes of the rho-meson and the colour dipole scattering amplitude with the t-channel gluons. We show also that beyond the Wandzura-Wilczek approximation, the hard c…
Using the renormalon technique, we estimate higher-twist contributions in deeply virtual Compton scattering and in hard exclusive $π^0$ leptoproduction.
We describe the hard leptoproduction of transversally polarized rho-meson, up to twist 3 accuracy, including 2- and 3- particles Fock-states, in the HERA kinematics of high center-of-mass energy. We first build a model based on a simple approach to the unintegrated gluon density (the parton impact factor) that we compare with H1 and ZEUS data for the ratios of helicity amplitudes T(gamma*T -> rhoT)/T(gamma*L -> rhoL) and T(gamma*T -> rhoL)/T(gamma*L -> rhoL) and get a good description of the data. We also show how saturation effects can be included in this model by extending the dipole represe…
We describe hard exclusive processes involving a transversally polarized rho meson in the twist 3 approximation, in a framework based on the Taylor expansion of the amplitude around the dominant light-cone direction.
We present the detailed analysis of genuine twist-3 contributions to the exclusive electroproduction amplitude of transversely polarized vector mesons. Using the formalism based on the QCD factorization in the momentum representation we calculated all the genuine twist-3 terms and found the total expression of this amplitude at 1/Q level. Generally speaking, these terms violate standard factorization owing to the existence of the infrared divergencies in the amplitude of hard sub-processes, although the strongest divergencies cancel due to the QCD equations of motion. We discuss the possible t…
We describe hard exclusive processes beyond the leading twist approximation in a framework based on the Taylor expansion of the amplitude around the dominant light-cone directions. This naturally introduces an appropriate set of non-perturbative correlators whose number is minimalized after taking into account QCD equations of motion and the invariance under rotation on the light-cone. We examplify this method at the twist 3 level and show that the coordinate and momentum space descriptions are fully equivalent.
Neutrino scattering on nucleons in the regime of deeply virtual kinematics is studied both in the charged and the neutral electroweak sectors using a formalism developed by Blumlein, Robaschik, Geyer and Collaborators for the analysis of the Virtual Compton amplitude in the generalized Bjorken region. We discuss the structure of the leading twist amplitudes of the process.
We present an analysis of genuine twist-3 quark contributions to the amplitude of exclusive electro-production of transversely polarized vector mesons. Using the formalism based on the momentum representation we calculated all the genuine twist-3 terms of quark contributions to gamma_T^* --> rho_T amplitude. We found that these terms can not be factorized owing to the existence of the infrared divergencies in the amplitude of hard sub-processes.
I briefly review the formalism for treating the leading-twist two-gluon states appearing in processes which involve eta and eta' mesons. The constraints on the size of the lowest order Gegenbauer coefficients of the two-gluon distribution amplitude are obtained from the fit to the eta and eta' transition form factor data. The results are applied to chi -> eta eta (eta' eta') decays and deeply virtual electroproduction of eta and eta' mesons.
We discuss the possibility of measuring generalized parton distributions in exclusive electroproduction of mesons off the nucleon and estimate the uncertainty from perturbatively induced higher-twist corrections. We find that, while the magnitude of the cross section changes significantly taking into account twist-four contributions modeled via renormalons, the transverse spin asymmetry is weakly sensitive to them and displays the precocious scaling.
This paper is devoted to the leading twist exclusive bottomonia decays with double charmonium in the final state. Using models of the twist-2 charmonia distribution amplitudes the widths of these decays are calculated within light cone formalism. In addition, the processes under consideration are studied within nonrelativistic QCD. In our analysis we have found that the production of some of the $P$-wave charmonia mesons with $L_z \neq 0$ is allowed already at the leading twist approximation. This means that the selection rules which predict the suppression of such decays are violated. The mec…
We show that the leading twist contribution to exclusive electroproduction of transversely polarized vector mesons vanishes at all orders in perturbation theory. Therefore one cannot extract information on the quark transversity distribution of the nucleon from this reaction. In turn one has that the produced vector meson is purely longitudinal in the large-Q^2 limit, which provides a new test of the dominance of leading twist at finite Q^2.
In this paper, we calculate twist-2 light-cone distribution amplitudes (LCDAs) of the S-wave and P-wave quarkonia (namely $^1S_0$ state $η_{Q}$, $^3S_1$ state $J/ψ(Υ)$, $^1P_1$ state $h_{Q}$ and $^3P_J$ states $χ_{QJ}$ with $J=0,1,2$ and $Q=c,b$) to the next-leading order of the strong coupling $α_s$ and leading order of the velocity expansion $v$ in the non-relativistic QCD (NRQCD). We apply these LCDAs to some single quarkonium exclusive productions at large center-of-mass energy, such as $γ^*\to η_Qγ, χ_{QJ}γ~(J=0,1,2)$, $Z\to η_Qγ, χ_{QJ}γ~(J=0,1,2), J/ψ(Υ)γ, h_Qγ$ and $h\to J/ψγ$, by adop…
We present an analysis of twist-2, leading order QCD amplitudes for hard exclusive leptoproduction of mesons in terms of double/nonforward parton distribution functions. After reviewing some general features of nonforward nucleon matrix elements of twist-2 QCD string operators, we propose a phenomenological model for quark and gluon nonforward distribution functions. The corresponding QCD evolution equations are solved in the leading logarithmic approximation for flavor nonsinglet distributions. We derive explicit expressions for hard exclusive pi^0, eta, and neutral vector meson production am…
Hard hadronic exclusive processes are now at the forefront of QCD studies, particularly because of their role in the interpretation of exclusive hadronic B decays. Perturbative QCD and its factorization properties at high momentum transfer provide an essential guide to the phenomenology of exclusive amplitudes at large momentum transfer--the leading power fall-off of form factors and fixed-angle cross sections, the dominant helicity structures, and their color transparency properties. The hard scattering subprocess amplitude T_H controlling the leading-twist amplitude is evaluated in the pertu…
With the imminent construction of an electron-ion collider in the USA, both saturation physics and nuclear shadowing physics will be important for the same processes for the first time. In particular for exclusive production of vector mesons, such as the J/$ψ$. In this paper we investigate the underlying assumptions commonly made when phenomenologically investigating this process from a shadowing and saturation perspective respectively. We use the bSat model which is commonly used to describe saturation physics, and a calculation by M.G. Ryskin which is commonly used when describing nuclear sh…
We give a theoretical description of the L3 Collaboration data on the cross-section of the exclusive two $ρ$-mesons production in $γγ^*$ collision with large photon virtuality. These data prove the scaling behaviour of the leading twist generalized distribution amplitude of vector mesons. They thus prove the relevance of a partonic description of the exclusive process $γγ^*\toρ^0ρ^0$ at $Q^2\geq 1.2 {\rm GeV^2}$ and $W\leq 3.0 {\rm GeV}.$
The pseudoscalar quarkonia exclusive decays to light mesons still poses a challenge to the theoretical understanding of quarkonium properties in decay. In this work, we evaluate the processes of pseudoscalar heavy quarkonium decays into vector meson pairs, especially the helicity suppressed processes of $η_b\rightarrow J/ψJ/ψ$ and $η_c\rightarrow VV$. In the frame of NRQCD, the branching fraction of $Br[η_b\rightarrow J/ψJ/ψ]$ are evaluated at the next-to-leading order of perturbative QCD; and within the light-cone distribution formalism, we calculate also the higher twist effects in these pro…
We study the exclusive decays of $B$ meson into P-wave charmonium states $χ_{cJ}(J=0,1)$ in the QCD factorization approach with light-cone distribution functions describing the mesons in the processes. For $B \to χ_{c1} K$ decay, we find that there are logarithmic divergences arising from nonfactorizable spectator interactions even at twist-2 order and the decay rate is too small to accommodate the experimental data. For $B\to χ_{c0} K$ decay, we find that aside from the logarithmic divergences arising from spectator interactions at leading-twist order, more importantly, the factorization will…
Exclusive and semi-exclusive processes, the diffractive dissociation of hadrons into jets, and hard diffractive processes such as vector meson leptoproduction provide new testing grounds for QCD and essential information on the structure of light-cone wavefunctions of hadrons, particularly the pion distribution amplitude. I review the basic features of the leading-twist QCD predictions and the problems and challenges of studying QCD at the amplitude level. The application of the light-cone formalism to the exclusive semi-leptonic decay of heavy hadrons is also discussed.
Off-diagonal parton distributions occur in several hard exclusive reactions. They extend the study of hadron structure beyond what can be learned from ordinary distributions and have a particularly rich spin structure. The hard scattering subprocesses in electroproduction of mesons and of real photons satisfy helicity selection rules, which provide powerful tools to test leading-twist dominance at a given value of the hard scale.
We derive dual parameterization for the DVCS amplitude to the twist-3 accuracy. The relation of the dual parameterization to the Abel transform tomography for amplitudes of hard exclusive processes is elaborated. We prove dispersion relations for the twist-3 DVCS amplitude in the Wandzura -- Wilczek approximation and show that the subtraction constant is given by the D-term form factor. The same as in the case of twist-2 DVCS amplitude.
Forward photoproduction of $J/ψ$ can be used to extract Generalized Parton Distributions(GPD's) of gluons. We analyze the process at twist-3 level and study relevant classifications of twist-3 gluon GPD's. At leading power or twist-2 level the produced $J/ψ$ is transversely polarized. We find that at twist-3 the produced $J/ψ$ is longitudinally polarized. Our study shows that in high energy limit the twist-3 amplitude is only suppressed by the inverse power of the heavy quark mass relatively to the twist-2 amplitude. This indicates that the power correction to the cross-section of unpolarized …
We present a systematic study of twist-4 light-cone distribution amplitudes of vector mesons in QCD, which is based on conformal expansion. The structure of meson mass corrections is studied in detail. A complete set of distribution amplitudes is constructed, which satisfies all (exact) equations of motion and constraints from conformal expansion. Nonperturbative input parameters are estimated from QCD sum rules. Our study suggests that meson mass corrections may present a dominant source of higher twist effects in exclusive processes.
The exclusive $π^0$ electroproduction is analyzed within the handbag approach based on Generalized Parton Distributions (GPDs) factorization. We consider the leading-twist contribution together with the transversity effects. It is shown that the transversity, $H_T$ and $\bar E_T$ GPDs are essential in the description of $π^0$ cross section. Predictions for future Electron-Ion Collider of China (EicC) energy range are done. It is found that transversity dominance $σ_T\ggσ_L$, observed at low energies is valid up to EicC energy range.
Generalized parton distributions of the nucleon are accessed via exclusive leptoproduction of the real photon. While earlier analytical considerations of phenomenological observables were restricted to twist-three accuracy, i.e., taking into account only terms suppressed by a single power of the hard scale, in the present study we revisit this differential cross section within the helicity formalism and restore power-suppressed effects stemming from the process kinematics exactly. We restrict ourselves to the phenomenologically important case of lepton scattering off a longitudinally polarized…
The formalism for treating the leading-twist contributions of the two-gluon Fock components occurring in hard exclusive processes that involve eta and eta' mesons is reviewed. The calculation of the eta, eta'--photon transition form factor in next-to-leading order in alpha_s, as well as, the analysis of the g* g* eta' vertex and the electro- and photoproduction of eta, eta' mesons are presented. Applications of this formalism to other relevant quantities such as glueballs are also discussed.
This article is devoted to systematic analysis of double charmonium production in exclusive $Z$ boson decays in the framework of Nonrelativistic Quantum Chromodynamic (NRQCD) and leading twist light-cone (LC) models. Theoretical predictions for branching fractions of all considered decays are presented. According to obtained results in the case of allowed by helicity suppression rule processes the effect of internal quark motion increases the branching fraction by a factor 1.5, while for forbidden reactions LC predictions are strictly zero, while NRQCD ones are significantly smaller than for a…
We investigate the exclusive electroproduction of pi^+ mesons from nucleons. To leading twist, leading order alpha_s accuracy the corresponding production amplitude can be decomposed into pseudovector and pseudoscalar parts. Both can be expressed in terms of quark double distribution functions of the nucleon. While the pseudovector contribution is connected to ordinary polarized quark distributions, the pseudoscalar part can be related to one pion t-channel exchange. We observe that the pseudovector part of the production amplitude is important at x < 0.1. On the other hand, for 0.1 < x < 0.4 …
We illustrate the generalization of results concerning exclusive electromagnetic processes in the deeply virtual limit (DVCS) to the case of the weak interactions.We briefly describe the derivation of the differential cross section for neutrino-nucleon reactions mediated by the neutral current and the amplitude for similar reactions mediated by the charged currents.
We study the exclusive double-photon annihilation processes, $e^+ e^- \to γγ^\ast\to γV^0$ and $e^+ e^- \to γ^\ast γ^\ast \to V^0_a V^0_b,$ where the $V^0_i$ is a neutral vector meson produced in the forward kinematical region: $s \gg -t$ and $-t \gg Λ_{\rm QCD}^2$. We show how the differential cross sections $\frac{dσ}{dt}$, as predicted by QCD, have additional falloff in the momentum transfer squared $t$ due to the QCD compositeness of the hadrons, consistent with the leading-twist fixed-$θ_{\rm CM} $ scaling laws. However, even though they are exclusive channels and not associated with the …
A complete set of asymptotic three particle light cone distribution amplitudes of twist 3 and 4 for a transversely polarized massive vector meson built out of massless current quarks is constructed. The method used is based on a modified conformal projectors technique which allows to handle kinematical corrections due to a finite hadron mass. Consequences of our finding for the ρ-meson hard diffractive electroproduction and γρπform factor are discussed. Our results may imply a breakdown of OPE for some exclusive processes beyond the leading twist level.
In this talk it is reported on an analysis of hard exclusive pion electroproduction within the handbag approach. Particular emphasis is laid on single-spin asymmetries. It is argued that a recent HERMES measurement of asymmetries measured with a transversely polarized target clearly indicate the occurrence of strong contributions from transversely polarized photons. Within the handbag approach such gamma_T --> pion transitions are described by the transversity GPDs accompanied by a twist-3 pion wave function. It is shown that this approach leads to results on cross sections and single-spin asy…
In the perturbative QCD approach to exclusive B decays to two light mesons, the leading twist contribution corresponds to those diagrams in the Lepage-Brodsky expansion in which the would be spectator quark receives its recoil momentum via one gluon exchange. We show that the resulting amplitude, which in the spectator model is real, acquires an imaginary part which may be comparable in size to its real part. Thus, this source of the strong interaction phase in the amplitude must be taken into account in general to discuss, reliably, the expectations for CP violation in B decays at any B-Facto…
We show that in hard exclusive electroproduction, ep-->eVp, the leading-twist hard-scattering coefficient for the production of a transversely polarized vector meson V vanishes to all orders of perturbation theory. This implies that this process cannot be used to measure the skewed transversity distribution of quarks in a hadron. In contrast, a recent calculation obtained a non-zero value at NLO. We show that this calculation is incorrect because it failed to include the necessary collinear subtractions. Our method of proof also applies to other processes whose hard-scattering coefficients are…
Using the leading order amplitudes of hard exclusive electroproduction of pion pairs we have analyzed the angular distribution of the two produced particles. At leading twist a pion pair can be produced only in an isovector or an isoscalar state. We show that certain components of the angular distribution only get contributions from the interference of the I=1 and the (much smaller) I=0 amplitude. Therefore our predictions prove to be a good probe of isospin zero pion pair production. We predict effects of a measurable size that could be observed at experiments like HERMES. We also discuss how…
The role of transversity or helicity-flip generalized parton distributions (GPDs) in leptoproduction of vector mesons is investigated within the framework of the handbag approach. The transversity GPDs in combination with twist-3 meson wave functions, occur in the amplitudes for transitions from a transversely polarized virtual photon to a longitudinal polarized vector meson. The importance of the transversity GPDs can be examined in some of the spin density matrix elements and in transverse target spin asymmetries. Using suitable parametrizations of both helicity-flip and non-flip GPDs, which…
We revisit the proof of the perturbative QCD factorization for the exclusive processes $ργ^{\star} \to π(ρ)$ at the two-parton twist-3 level. It is pointed out that the residual collinear divergences observed in the literature, which break the factorization of the above processes at the considered accuracy, are attributed to the improper insertion of the Fierz identity for factorizing the fermion flow. We show that the factorization theorem indeed holds at the two-parton twist-3 level after the mishandling is corrected.
We present the first complete results for the semileptonic and rare radiative form factors of B-mesons weak decay into a light vector-meson (rho, omega, K*, phi) in the light-cone sum-rule approach. The calculation includes radiative corrections, higher-twist corrections and SU(3)-breaking effects. The theoretical uncertainty is investigated in detail. A simple parametrization of the form factors is given in terms of three parameters each. We find that the form factors observe several relations inspired by heavy-quark symmetry.
The leading twist parametrization of dipion mass distribution in hard exclusive reactions is proposed. Its parameters are related to quark distributions (usual and skewed) in the pion and to distributions amplitudes of mesons ($π$, $ρ$, etc.). We show that measurements of the shape of dipion mass distribution in hard exclusie reactions can give important information about partonic structure of the pion. The expression for the amplitude of the reaction $γ^*γ\to ππ$ near the threshold in terms of singlet quark distribution in the pion is presented.
We predict contributions of higher $K$-resonances to the radiative rare decays $b\to sγ$, in the framework of the QCD sum rules on the light cone (LCSR). Our calculations are restricted to the leading twist-two operators for $K^*(892)$ and to the asymptotic wave function for the other $K^{**}$-mesons. Using experimental data on the semileptonic $τ\to K^{**}ν_τ$ decays, we extract the corresponding decay constants for vector and axial-vector $K^{**}$-mesons. We present results for the corresponding branching ratios and compare them with the existing theoretical predictions.
We analyze the exclusive charmonium $J/ψ+η_c$ pair production in $e^+e^-$ annihilation using the nonfactorized perturbative QCD and the light-front quark model(LFQM) that goes beyond the peaking approximation. We effectively include all orders of higher twist terms in the leading order of QCD coupling constant and compare our nonfactorized analysis with the usual factorized analysis in the calculation of the cross section. We also calculate the quark distribution amplitudes, the Gegenbauer moments, and the decay constants for $J/ψ$ and $η_c$ mesons using our LFQM. Our nonfactorized result enha…
Belle has observed surprisingly copious production of $ψ(3770)$ in $B$ meson decay $B\to ψ(3770)K$, of which the rate is comparable to that of $B\to ψ(3686)K$. We study this puzzling process in the QCD factorization approach with the effect of S-D mixing considered. We find that the soft scattering effects in the spectator interactions play an essential role. With a proper parametrization for the higher twist soft end-point singularities associated with kaon, and with the S-D mixing angle $θ=-12^{\circ}$, the calculated decay rates can be close to the data. Implications of these soft spectator…
