The nucleon's electromagnetic form factors are expressed in terms of the transverse densities of charge and magnetization at fixed light-front time. At peripheral transverse distances $b = O(M_π^{-1})$ the densities are governed by chiral dynamics and can be calculated model-independently using chiral effective field theory (EFT). We represent the leading-order chiral EFT results for the peripheral transverse densities as overlap integrals of chiral light-front wave functions, describing the transition of the initial nucleon to soft pion-nucleon intermediate states and back. The new representation (a) explains the parametric order of the peripheral transverse densities; (b) establishes an inequality between the spin-independent and -dependent densities; (c) exposes the role of pion orbital angular momentum in chiral dynamics; (d) reveals a large left-right asymmetry of the current in a transversely polarized nucleon and suggests a simple interpretation. The light-front representation enables a first-quantized, quantum-mechanical view of chiral dynamics that is fully relativistic and exactly equivalent to the second-quantized, field-theoretical formulation. It relates the charge and magnetization densities measured in low-energy elastic scattering to the generalized parton distributions probed in peripheral high-energy scattering processes. The method can be applied to nucleon form factors of other operators, e.g. the energy-momentum tensor.
In the partonic (or light-front) description of relativistic systems the electromagnetic form factors are expressed in terms of frame-independent charge and magnetization densities in transverse space. This formulation allows one to identify the chiral components of nucleon structure as the peripheral densities at transverse distances b = O(M_pi^{-1}) and compute them in a parametrically controlled manner. A dispersion relation connects the large-distance behavior of the transverse charge and magnetization densities to the spectral functions of the Dirac and Pauli form factors near the two-pio…
The nucleon's peripheral transverse charge and magnetization densities are computed in chiral effective field theory. The densities are represented in first-quantized form, as overlap integrals of chiral light-front wave functions describing the transition of the nucleon to soft pion-nucleon intermediate states. The orbital motion of the pion causes a large left-right asymmetry in a transversely polarized nucleon. The effect attests to the relativistic nature of chiral dynamics [pion momenta k = O(M_pi)] and could be observed in form factor measurements at low momentum transfer.
We explore the structure of the spin-1/2 flavor-octet baryons (hyperons) through their electromagnetic transverse densities. The transverse densities describe the distribution of charge and magnetization at fixed light-front time and enable a spatial representation of the baryons as relativistic systems. At peripheral distances b~1/M_pi the transverse densities are computed using a new method that combines chiral effective field theory and dispersion analysis. The peripheral isovector densities arise from two-pion exchange, which includes the rho-meson resonance through elastic unitarity. The …
In the light-front description of nucleon structure the electromagnetic form factors are expressed in terms of frame-independent transverse densities of charge and magnetization. Recent work has studied the transverse densities at peripheral distances b = O(M_pi^{-1}), where they are governed by universal chiral dynamics and can be computed in a model-independent manner. Of particular interest is the comparison of the peripheral charge and magnetization densities. We summarize (a) their interpretation as spin-independent and -dependent current matrix elements; (b) the leading-order chiral effe…
The baryon electromagnetic form factors are expressed in terms of two-dimensional densities describing the distribution of charge and magnetization in transverse space at fixed light-front time. We calculate the transverse densities of the spin-1/2 flavor-octet baryons at peripheral distances b = O(M_π^{-1}) using methods of relativistic chiral effective field theory (χEFT) and dispersion analysis. The densities are represented as dispersive integrals over the imaginary parts of the form factors in the timelike region (spectral functions). The isovector spectral functions on the two-pion cut t…
Transverse densities describe the spatial distribution of electromagnetic current in the nucleon at fixed light-front time. At peripheral distances b = O(M_pi^{-1}) the densities are governed by chiral dynamics and can be calculated model-independently using chiral effective field theory (EFT). Recent work has shown that the EFT results can be represented in first-quantized form, as overlap integrals of chiral light-front wave functions describing the transition of the nucleon to soft-pion-nucleon intermediate states, resulting in a quantum-mechanical picture of the peripheral transverse densi…
Using the charmonium light-front wavefunctions obtained by diagonalizing an effective Hamiltonian with the one-gluon exchange interaction and a confining potential inspired by light-front holography in the basis light-front quantization formalism, we compute production of charmonium states in diffractive deep inelastic scattering and ultra-peripheral heavy ion collisions within the dipole picture. Our method allows us to predict yields of all vector charmonium states below the open flavor thresholds in high-energy deep inelastic scattering, proton-nucleus and ultra-peripheral heavy ion collisi…
Transverse densities describe the distribution of charge and current at fixed light-front time and provide a frame-independent spatial representation of hadrons as relativistic systems. We calculate the transverse densities of the octet baryons at peripheral distances b = O(M_pi^{-1}) in an approach combining chiral effective field theory (ChEFT) and dispersion analysis. The densities are represented as dispersive integrals of the imaginary parts of the baryon electromagnetic form factors in the timelike region (spectral functions). The spectral functions on the two-pion cut at t > 4 M_pi^2 ar…
The use of light front coordinates allows a fully relativistic description of a hadron's spatial densities to be obtained. These densities must be two-dimensional and transverse to a chosen spatial direction. We explore their relationship to the three-dimensional, non-relativistic densities, with a focus on densities associated with the energy momentum tensor. The two-dimensional non-relativistic densities can be obtained from the light front densities through a non-relativistic limit, and can subsequently be transformed into three-dimensional non-relativistic densities through an inverse Abel…
The light front densities of momentum, angular momentum, and intrinsic pressure are calculated for the photon, both in the free case and at leading order in quantum electrodynamics. In the latter case, we moreover decompose the form factors into photon and electron contributions. Circularly and linearly polarized photons are both considered, with the latter containing significant azimuthal modulations in both the momentum density and in intrinsic stresses. We find that the D-term of the photon is positive instead of negative, and accordingly the intrinsic radial pressure of the photon is negat…
The transverse densities in a fast-moving nucleon offer a model-independent framework for analyzing the spatial structure of the pion cloud and its role in current matrix elements. We calculate the chiral large-distance component of the charge density using a dispersion representation of the form factor and discuss its partonic interpretation. The non-chiral core is dominant up to surprisingly large distances ~2 fm. The chiral component can be probed in precision low-Q^2 elastic eN scattering or in peripheral deep-inelastic processes which resolve its quark/gluon content.
We discuss the recent interpretation of quark distribution functions in the plane transverse to the light-cone direction. Such a mapping is model independent and allows one to build multidimensional pictures of the hadron and to develop a semi-classical intuition of the quark dynamics. We comment briefly the results obtained from the Form Factors of the nucleon. A generalization to a target with arbitrary spin led to a set of preferred values for the electromagnetic coupling characterizing structureless particles. Generalized polarizabilities can also be interpreted in that frame as the distor…
We discuss the recent interpretation of quark-distribution functions in the plane transverse to the light-cone direction. Such a mapping is model independent and allows one to build up multidimensional pictures of the hadron and to develop a semi-classical interpretation of the quark dynamics. We comment briefly the results obtained from the form factors of the nucleon. We show that a generalization to a target with arbitrary spin leads to a set of preferred values for the electromagnetic coupling characterizing structureless particles. Finally, we present the Wigner distribution for an unpola…
We extend the recently developed formalism to extract light-front quark charge densities from nucleon form factor data to the deformations of these quark charge densities when applying an external electric field. We show that the resulting induced polarizations can be extracted from proton generalized polarizabilities. The available data for the generalized electric polarizabilitiy of the proton yield a pronounced structure in its induced polarization at large transverse distances, which will be pinned down by forthcoming high precision virtual Compton scattering experiments.
Background: The transverse densities $ρ_{1, 2}(b)$ describe the distributions of electric charge and magnetic moment at fixed light-front time and connect the nucleon's elastic form factors with its partonic structure. The dispersive representation of the form factors $F_{1, 2}(t)$ expresses the densities in terms of exchanges of hadronic states in the $t$-channel and permits their analysis using hadronic physics methods. Purpose: Compute the densities at peripheral distances $b = \mathcal{O}(M_π^{-1})$, where they are generated predominantly by the two-pion states in the dispersive representa…
Densities associated with the energy-momentum tensor are calculated for spin-one targets. These calculations are done in a light front formalism, which accounts for relativistic effects due to boosts and allows for arbitrary spatial localization of the target. These densities include the distribution of momentum, angular momentum, and pressures over a two-dimensional plane transverse to the light front. Results are obtained for both longitudinally and transversely polarized targets, and the formalism is tailored to allow the possibility of massless targets. The momentum density and pressure di…
We have investigated the transverse charge density for longitudinal and transversely polarized $ρ$ meson in light-front quark model (LFQM). Charge densities are obtained from the elastic form factors of the $ρ$ meson calculated in LFQM including the zero-mode contributions. We have computed the different helicity matrix elements of the $ρ$ meson. In addition to this, we have also presented the results for the generalized parton distributions (GPDs) and impact-parameter dependent parton distribution functions (ipdpdfs) of the $ρ$ meson.
We investigate the gravitational form factors (GFFs) and the longitudinal momentum densities ($p^+$ densities) for proton in a light-front quark-diquark model. The light-front wave functions are constructed from the soft-wall AdS/QCD prediction. The contributions from both the scalar and the axial vector diquarks are considered here. The results are compared with the consequences of a parametrization of nucleon generalized parton distributions (GPDs) in the light of recent MRST measurements of parton distribution functions (PDFs) and a soft-wall AdS/QCD model. The spatial distribution of angul…
We study the nucleon's partonic angular momentum (AM) content at peripheral transverse distances $b = \mathcal{O}(M_π^{-1})$, where the structure is governed by chiral dynamics. We compute the nucleon form factors of the energy-momentum tensor in chiral effective field theory (ChEFT) and construct the transverse densities of AM at fixed light-front time. In the periphery the spin density is suppressed, and the AM is predominantly orbital. In the first-quantized representation of ChEFT in light-front form, the field-theoretical AM density coincides with the quantum-mechanical orbital AM density…
We present a study of the generalized parton distributions for the quarks in a proton in both momentum and position spaces using the light-front wave functions of a quark-diquark model for the nucleon predicted by the soft-wall model of AdS/QCD. The results are compared with the soft-wall AdS/QCD model of proton GPDs for zero skewness. We also calculate the GPDs for nonzero skewness. We observe that the GPDs have a diffraction pattern in longitudinal position space, as seen before in other models. Then we present a comparitive study of the nucleon charge and anomalous magnetization densities i…
We develop a mechanism to build the light-front wavefunctions (LFWFs) of meson bound states on a small-sized basis function representation. Unlike in a standard Hamiltonian formalism, the Hamiltonian in this method is implicit, and the information of the system is carried directly by the functional form and adjustable parameters of the LFWFs. In this work, we model the LFWFs for four charmonium states, $η_c$, $J/ψ$, $ψ'$, and $ψ(3770)$ as superpositions of orthonormal basis functions. We choose the basis functions as eigenfunctions of an effective Hamiltonian, which has a longitudinal confinin…
We present the generalized parton distributions (GPDs) for the valence quarks of the pion and the kaon in both momentum space and position space within the basis light-front quantization framework. These GPDs are obtained from the eigenvectors of a light-front effective Hamiltonian consisting of the holographic quantum chromodynamics (QCD) confinement potential, a complementary longitudinal confinement potential, and the color-singlet Nambu-Jona--Lasinio interactions for the valence quarks of mesons. We then calculate the generalized form factors of the pion and the kaon from the moments of th…
We investigate the unequal mass relativistic bound state system, the $B_c$ mesons, in a light-front Hamiltonian formalism. We adopt an effective Hamiltonian based on soft-wall light-front holography, together with a longitudinal confinement that was first introduced for heavy quarkonium. We also include the one gluon-exchange interaction with a running coupling, which produces the spin structure. We present the mass spectrum and light-front wave functions. We also use the light-front wave functions to calculate decay constants, charge and momentum densities, as well as distribution amplitudes.…
Light-Front Transverse Nucleon Charge and Magnetisation Densities
Universidad de Huelva（韦尔瓦大学）；Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf（德累斯顿-罗森多夫亥姆霍兹中心）；Anhui Normal University（安徽师范大学）；Nanjing University（南京大学）；Institute for Nonperturbative Physics, Nanjing University（南京大学非微扰物理研究所）；Univ. Pablo de Olavide（巴勃罗·德·奥拉维德大学）
We obtain the light meson mass spectroscopy from the light-front quantum chromodynamics (QCD) Hamiltonian, determined for their constituent quark-antiquark and quark-antiquark-gluon Fock components, together with a three-dimensional confinement. The eigenvectors of the light-front effective Hamiltonian provide a good quality description of the pion electromagnetic form factor, decay constant, and the valence quark distribution functions following QCD scale evolution. We also show that the pion's gluon densities can be probed through the pion-nucleus induced $J/ψ$ production data. Our pion part…
In this work, we find the light front densities for momentum and forces, including pressure and shear forces, within hadrons. This is achieved by deriving relativistically correct expressions relating these densities to the gravitational form factors $A(t)$ and $D(t)$ associated with the energy momentum tensor. The derivation begins from the fundamental definition of density in a quantum field theory, namely the expectation value of a local operator within a spatially-localized state. We find that it is necessary to use the light front formalism to define a density that corresponds to internal…
We present a comparative study of nucleon structure such as electromagnetic form factors, transverse charge and magnetization densities in three different models within AdS/QCD framework.
Electromagnetic form factors obtained from the overlap of light front wave functions (LFWFs) have been used to study the transverse densities of charge and magnetization. The calculations have been carried out to develop a relation between the charge distribution of the quarks inside nucleon in the transverse coordinate space as well as in the impact parameter space. When a comparison is carried out, it is found that the transverse distribution in the impact parameter space, where the longitudinal momentum fraction $x$ can be fixed, falls off faster than the spatial distribution in the transve…
We evaluate both chirally even and odd generalized parton distributions(GPDs) in the leading twist in a recently proposed quark-diquark model for the proton where the light front wavefunctions are constructed from the soft-wall AdS/QCD prediction. The GPDs in transverse impact parameter space give the spin densities for different quark and proton polarizations. For longitudinally polarized proton only chiral even GPDs contribute but for transversely polarized proton both chiral even and chiral odd GPDs contribute to the spin densities. We present a detail study of the spin densities in this mo…
We investigate the nucleon to $Δ$ transition form factors in a soft-wall AdS/QCD model and a light-front quark-diquark model inspired by AdS/QCD. From the transition form factors we evaluate the transition charge densities which influences the nucleon to $Δ$ excitation. Here we consider both the unpolarized and the transversely polarized cases. The AdS/QCD predictions are compared with available experimental data and with the results of the global parameterization, MAID2007.
We present all the leading twist T-even TMDs in the light-front quark diquark model(LFQDM) and study the relations among them. The model contains both the scalar and vector diquarks with the light front wave functions modeled from the soft-wall AdS/QCD prediction. The $x-p^2_\perp$ factorization used in phenomenological extraction for TMDs is observed in this model. We present the results for the quark densities and the transverse shape of proton. The shape of the transversely polarized proton is shown to be non-spherical for nonzero transverse momentum. The scale evolution of both integrated …
The transverse charge density in a fast-moving nucleon is represented as a dispersion integral of the imaginary part of the Dirac form factor in the timelike region (spectral function). At a given transverse distance b the integration effectively extends over energies in a range sqrt{t} ~< 1/b, with exponential suppression of larger values. The transverse charge density at peripheral distances thus acts as a low-pass filter for the spectral function and allows one to select energy regions dominated by specific t-channel states, corresponding to definite exchange mechanisms in the spacelike for…
We present the leading-twist quark transverse momentum-dependent parton distribution functions (TMDs) for the spin-1 target, such as the $ρ$-meson, in the light-front framework. Specifically, we predict the TMDs in the light-front holographic model and compare with the light-front quark model predictions. We obtain the TMDs using the overlap of the light-front wave functions. We evaluate the ${\bf k}_\perp$ moments upto second order and compare with the available theoretical predictions. Further, we analyze the leading-twist parton distribution functions (PDFs) of the $ρ$-meson in the light-fr…
We study the unpolarized and the helicity dependent generalized parton distributions (GPDs) for the valence quarks of the proton in both momentum space and position space within the basis light-front quantization (BLFQ) framework. The GPDs for the valence quarks are computed from the eigenvectors of a light-front effective Hamiltonian in the valence Fock sector consisting of a three-dimensional confinement potential and a one-gluon exchange interaction with fixed coupling. Employing these GPDs, we obtain the spatial distributions of quark angular momentum inside the proton. In our BLFQ approac…
Ultra-peripheral collisions (UPCs) involving heavy ions and protons are the energy frontier for photon-mediated interactions. UPC photons can be used for many purposes, including probing low-$x$ gluons via photoproduction of dijets and vector mesons, probes of beyond-standard-model processes, such as those enabled by light-by-light scattering, and studies of two-photon production of the Higgs.
The gravitational form factors are related to the matrix elements of the energy-momentum tensor $T^{μν}$. Using the light front wave functions of the scalar quark-diquark model for nucleon predicted by the soft-wall AdS/QCD, we calculate the flavor dependent $A(Q^2)$, $B(Q^2)$ and $\bar{C}(Q^2)$ form factors. We also present all the matrix element of the energy-momentum tensor in a transversely polarized state. Further, we evaluate the matrix element of Pauli-Lubanski operator in this model and show that the intrinsic spin sum rule involves the form factor $\bar{C}$. The longitudinal momentum …
The pion structure in Minkowski space is explored using the Nakanishi integral representation. A general framework is developed for the pion Bethe-Salpeter amplitude based on the Kallen-Lehmann representation of the dressed quarks with an ansatz for the pseudo-scalar $π-q\bar q$ vertex fulfilling the axial Ward-Takahashi identity. The Nakanishi weight functions are derived for the scalar amplitudes associated with the decomposition of the pion Bethe-Salpeter amplitude in different operator bases in the Dirac spinor space in terms of the involved spectral densities. The approach is applied to a…
In this work, we present a thorough analysis of scalar $P$-wave $χ_{Q0}$, $Q=c,b$ quarkonia electromagnetic form factors for the $γ^* γ^* \to χ_{Q0}$ couplings, as well as their hadroproduction observables in $k_\perp$-factorisation using the light-front potential approach for the quarkonium wave function. The electromagnetic form factors are presented as functions of photon virtualities. We discuss the role of the Melosh spin-rotation and relativistic corrections estimated by comparing our results with those in the standard nonrelativistic QCD (NRQCD) approach. Theoretical uncertainties of ou…
