Elastic Dijet Production in Electron Scattering on a Longitudinally Polarized Proton at Small $x$: A Portal to Orbital Angular Momentum Distributions

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Main Authors: Kovchegov, Yuri V., Manley, Brandon
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Kovchegov, Yuri V.
Manley, Brandon
author_facet Kovchegov, Yuri V.
Manley, Brandon
contents We calculate the elastic production of dijets from electron collisions with a longitudinally polarized proton target at small values of the Bjorken $x$ variable. Building on the pioneering proposals of \cite{Hatta:2016aoc,Bhattacharya:2022vvo, Bhattacharya:2023hbq, Bhattacharya:2024sck} for measuring the quark and gluon orbital angular momentum (OAM) distributions, our focus is on both the longitudinal double spin asymmetry (DSA) and longitudinal single spin asymmetry (SSA). We compute the numerators of these asymmetries in the small-$x$ formalism of the light-cone operator treatment. Utilizing the small-$x$ expressions for the OAM distributions derived in our earlier paper, we demonstrate that the DSA provides a robust probe for both the quark and gluon OAM distributions within the proton. In contrast, we find that while the SSA is also sensitive to the OAM distributions, extraction of the latter from the SSA would require new developments in small-$x$ theory and phenomenology, and is probably not feasible at this point in time. These findings highlight the potential of DSA measurements in elastic dijet production at the future Electron-Ion Collider to provide the first-ever direct access to the quark and gluon OAM distributions at small $x$, paving the way for new insights into the proton spin puzzle.
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id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_21260
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Elastic Dijet Production in Electron Scattering on a Longitudinally Polarized Proton at Small $x$: A Portal to Orbital Angular Momentum Distributions
Kovchegov, Yuri V.
Manley, Brandon
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Experiment
Nuclear Experiment
Nuclear Theory
We calculate the elastic production of dijets from electron collisions with a longitudinally polarized proton target at small values of the Bjorken $x$ variable. Building on the pioneering proposals of \cite{Hatta:2016aoc,Bhattacharya:2022vvo, Bhattacharya:2023hbq, Bhattacharya:2024sck} for measuring the quark and gluon orbital angular momentum (OAM) distributions, our focus is on both the longitudinal double spin asymmetry (DSA) and longitudinal single spin asymmetry (SSA). We compute the numerators of these asymmetries in the small-$x$ formalism of the light-cone operator treatment. Utilizing the small-$x$ expressions for the OAM distributions derived in our earlier paper, we demonstrate that the DSA provides a robust probe for both the quark and gluon OAM distributions within the proton. In contrast, we find that while the SSA is also sensitive to the OAM distributions, extraction of the latter from the SSA would require new developments in small-$x$ theory and phenomenology, and is probably not feasible at this point in time. These findings highlight the potential of DSA measurements in elastic dijet production at the future Electron-Ion Collider to provide the first-ever direct access to the quark and gluon OAM distributions at small $x$, paving the way for new insights into the proton spin puzzle.
title Elastic Dijet Production in Electron Scattering on a Longitudinally Polarized Proton at Small $x$: A Portal to Orbital Angular Momentum Distributions
topic High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Experiment
Nuclear Experiment
Nuclear Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.21260