Ted C. Rogers

Transverse momentum dependent parton distribution and fragmentation functions with QCD evolution

We assess the current phenomenological status of transverse momentum dependent (TMD) parton distribution functions (PDFs) and fragmentation functions (FFs) and study the effect of consistently including perturbative QCD (pQCD) evolution. Our goal is to initiate the process of establishing reliable, QCD-evolved parametrizations for the TMD PDFs and TMD FFs that can be used both to test TMD factorization and to search for evidence of the breakdown of TMD factorization that is expected for certain processes. In this article, we focus on spin-independent processes because they provide the simplest illustration of the basic steps and can already be used in direct tests of TMD factorization. Our calculations are based on the Collins-Soper-Sterman (CSS) formalism, supplemented by recent theoretical developments which have clarified the precise definitions of the TMD PDFs and TMD FFs needed for a valid TMD-factorization theorem. Starting with these definitions, we numerically generate evolved TMD PDFs and TMD FFs using as input existing parametrizations for the collinear PDFs, collinear FFs, nonperturbative factors in the CSS factorization formalism, and recent fixed-scale fits. We confirm that evolution has important consequences, both qualitatively and quantitatively, and argue that it should be included in future phenomenological studies of TMD functions. Our analysis is also suggestive of extensions to processes that involve spin-dependent functions such as the Boer-Mulders, Sivers, or Collins functions, which we intend to pursue in future publications. At our website, we have made available the tables and calculations needed to obtain the TMD parametrizations presented herein.

No generalized transverse momentum dependent factorization in the hadroproduction of high transverse momentum hadrons

It has by now been established that standard QCD factorization using transverse momentum dependent parton distribution functions fails in hadroproduction of nearly back-to-back hadrons with high transverse momentum. The essential problem is that gauge-invariant transverse momentum dependent parton distribution functions cannot be defined with process-independent Wilson line operators, thus implying a breakdown of universality. This has led naturally to proposals that a correct approach is to instead use a type of generalized transverse momentum dependent factorization in which the basic factorized structure is assumed to remain valid, but with transverse momentum dependent parton distribution functions that contain nonstandard, process-dependent Wilson line structures. In other words, to recover a factorization formula, it has become common to assume that it is sufficient to simply modify the Wilson lines in the parton correlation functions for each separate hadron. In this paper, we will illustrate by direct counterexample that this is not possible in a non-Abelian gauge theory. Since a proof of generalized transverse momentum dependent factorization should apply generally to any hard hadroproduction process, a single counterexample suffices to show that a general proof does not exist. Therefore, to make the counter-argument clear and explicit, we illustrate with a specific calculation for a double spin asymmetry in a spectator model with a non-Abelian gauge field. The observed breakdown of generalized transverse momentum dependent factorization challenges the notion that the role of parton transverse momentum in such processes can be described using separate correlation functions for each external hadron.

QCD evolution of the Sivers function

We extend the Collins-Soper-Sterman (CSS) formalism to apply it to the spin-dependence governed by the Sivers function. We use it to give a correct numerical QCD evolution of existing fixed-scale fits of the Sivers function. With the aid of approximations useful for the non-perturbative region, we present the results as parametrizations of a Gaussian form in transverse momentum space, rather than in the Fourier conjugate transverse coordinate space normally used in the CSS formalism. They are specifically valid at small transverse momentum. Since evolution has been applied, our results can be used to make predictions for Drell-Yan and semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering at energies different from those where the original fits were made. Our evolved functions are of a form that they can be used in the same parton model factorization formulas as used in the original fits, but now with a predicted scale dependence in the fit parameters. We also present a method by which our evolved functions can be corrected to allow for twist-3 contributions at large parton transverse momentum.

Fully unintegrated parton correlation functions and factorization in lowest-order hard scattering

Motivated by the need to correct the potentially large kinematic errors in approximations used in the standard formulation of perturbative QCD, we reformulate deeply inelastic lepton-proton scattering in terms of gauge-invariant, universal parton correlation functions which depend on all components of parton four-momentum. Currently, different hard QCD processes are described by very different perturbative formalisms, each relying on its own set of kinematical approximations. In this paper we show how to set up formalism that avoids approximations on final-state momenta, and thus has a very general domain of applicability. The use of exact kinematics introduces a number of significant conceptual shifts already at leading order, and tightly constrains the formalism. We show how to define parton correlation functions that generalize the concepts of parton density, fragmentation function, and soft factor. After setting up a general subtraction formalism, we obtain a factorization theorem. To avoid complications with Ward identities, the full derivation is restricted to Abelian gauge theories; even so, the resulting structure is highly suggestive of a similar treatment for non-Abelian gauge theories.

Equality of Two Definitions for Transverse Momentum Dependent Parton Distribution Functions

We compare recent, seemingly different, approaches to transverse momentum dependent factorization (due to Echevarria, Idilbi, and Scimemi and to Collins), and show that they are the same, apart from an apparent difference in their definition of the MS¯ renormalization scheme.

TMDlib and TMDplotter: library and plotting tools for transverse-momentum-dependent parton distributions

Transverse-momentum-dependent distributions (TMDs) are extensions of collinear parton distributions and are important in high-energy physics from both theoretical and phenomenological points of view. In this manual we introduce the library

Extra spin asymmetries from the breakdown of transverse-momentum-dependent factorization in hadron-hadron collisions

{TMDlib }

Relating Transverse Momentum Dependent and Collinear Factorization Theorems in a Generalized Formalism

TMDlib, a tool to collect transverse-momentum-dependent parton distribution functions (TMD PDFs) and fragmentation functions (TMD FFs) together with an online plotting tool, TMDplotter. We provide a description of the program components and of the different physical frameworks the user can access via the available parameterisations.