Catching a glimpse of the parton structure of the bound proton

Abstract

A new generation of experiments is expected to shed light on the elusive parton structure of the bound proton. One of the most promising directions is incoherent deeply virtual Compton scattering, which can provide a tomographic view of the bound proton. The first measurement has been recently performed, using ${}^4$He targets at Jefferson Lab. In the work presented here, a rigorous Impulse Approximation analysis of this process is proposed. As ingredients, state-of-the-art models of the nuclear spectral function and of the parton structure of the struck proton, together with novel scattering amplitudes expressions for a bound moving nucleon, have been used. A good overall agreement with the data is obtained, in particular at high values of the photon virtuality. The observed big difference between results for the bound proton and those for the free one turns out to be due in small part to modifications of the parton structure, and rather it should be related to kinematical nuclear effects. The analysis demonstrates that the comparison of the results of this approach, based on a conventional description, with future precise data, has the potential to expose exotic quark and gluon effects in nuclei.

arXiv comment6 pages, 4 figures; minor corrections; references added. Version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D, Rapid Communications

References in corpus (36)

• An accurate nucleon-nucleon potential with charge-independence breaking
• Gauge-Invariant Decomposition of Nucleon Spin and Its Spin-Off
• Wave Functions, Evolution Equations and Evolution Kernels from Light-Ray Operators of QCD
• Generalized Parton Distributions
• Unraveling hadron structure with generalized parton distributions
• Quantum Monte Carlo Calculations of $A\le 6$ Nuclei
• Impact Parameter Dependent Parton Distributions and Off-Forward Parton Distributions for $\zeta \to 0$
• Scaling Limit of Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering
• Theory of deeply virtual Compton scattering on the nucleon
• Forces inside hadrons: pressure, surface tension, mechanical radius, and all that
• Realistic Model of the Nucleon Spectral Function in Few- and Many- Nucleon Systems
• A high-precision variational approach to three- and four-nucleon bound and zero-energy scattering states
• New measurements of the EMC effect in very light nuclei
• Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering Beam-Spin Asymmetries
• The longitudinal cross section of vector meson electroproduction
• Generalized parton distributions in the deuteron
• The EMC Effect and High Momentum Nucleons in Nuclei
• Deeply virtual Compton scattering off nuclei
• Exclusive electroproduction revisited: treating kinematical effects
• DVCS on spinless nuclear targets in impulse approximation
• First Exclusive Measurement of Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering off ${}^4$He: Toward the 3D Tomography of Nuclei
• Microscopic Description of Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering off Spin-0 Nuclei
• Nuclear-mass dependence of azimuthal beam-helicity and beam-charge asymmetries in deeply virtual Compton scattering
• Nuclear Medium Modifications of Hadrons from Generalized Parton Distributions
• 3D Structure and Nuclear Targets
• Exposing Novel Quark and Gluon Effects in Nuclei
• Exploring the Structure of the Bound Proton with Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering
• Conventional nuclear effects on generalized parton distributions of trinucleons
• Exact 4He Spectral Function in a Semirealistic NN Potential Model
• Coherent deeply virtual Compton scattering off ${}^4$He
• 3He Spin-Dependent Cross Sections and Sum Rules
• Extracting generalized neutron parton distributions from 3He data
• Light-Front spin-dependent Spectral Function and Nucleon Momentum Distributions for a Three-Body System
• Medium modifications of the bound nucleon GPDs and incoherent DVCS on nuclear targets
• GRS computation of deep inelastic electron scattering on 4He
• A simple qualitative description of EMC ratios μ^A for 0.2 <~ x <~ 1.5 and some sample calculations

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Precision Studies of QCD in the Low Energy Domain of the EIC
• Measurement of deeply virtual Compton scattering off Helium-4 with CLAS at Jefferson Lab
• Incoherent deeply virtual Compton scattering off ${}^4$He
• Deeply virtual Compton scattering off Helium nuclei with positron beams
• Generalized parton distributions of light nuclei
• Deeply virtual Compton Scattering off ${}^4$He