Accessing the Longitudinally Polarized Photon Content of the Proton

We investigate the QED Compton process (QEDCS) in longitudinally polarized lepton-proton scattering both in the elastic and inelastic channels and show that the cross section can be expressed in terms of the polarized equivalent photon distribution of the proton. We provide the necessary kinematical constraints to extract the polarized photon content of the proton using this process at HERMES, COMPASS and eRHIC. We also discuss the suppression of the major background process coming from virtual Compton scattering. We point out that such an experiment can give valuable information on $g_1(x_B, Q^2)$ in the small $x_B$, broad $Q^2$ region at the future polarized collider eRHIC and especially in the lower $Q^2$, medium $x_B$ region in fixed target experiments.Comment: Version to appear in PR

Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering on nucleons and nuclei in generalized vector meson dominance model

We consider Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering (DVCS) on nucleons and nuclei in the framework of generalized vector meson dominance (GVMD) model. We demonstrate that the GVMD model provides a good description of the HERA data on the dependence of the proton DVCS cross section on Q^2, W (at Q^2=4 GeV^2) and t. At Q^2 = 8 GeV^2, the soft W-behavior of the GVMD model somewhat underestimates the W-dependence of the DVCS cross section due to the hard contribution not present in the GVMD model. We estimate 1/Q^2 power-suppressed corrections to the DVCS amplitude and the DVCS cross section and find them large. We also make predictions for the nuclear DVCS amplitude and cross section in the kinematics of the future Electron-Ion Collider. We predict significant nuclear shadowing, which matches well predictions of the leading-twist nuclear shadowing in DIS on nuclei.Comment: 25 pages, 9 figures, 1 tabl

The solar wind from a stellar perspective: how do low-resolution data impact the determination of wind properties?

Alfv\'en-wave-driven 3D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) models, which are increasingly used to predict stellar wind properties, contain unconstrained parameters and rely on low-resolution stellar magnetograms. We explore the effects of the input Alfv\'en wave energy flux and the surface magnetogram on the wind properties predicted by the Alfv\'en Wave Solar Model (AWSoM). We lowered the resolution of two solar magnetograms during solar cycle maximum and minimum using spherical harmonic decomposition. The Alfv\'en wave energy was altered based on non-thermal velocities determined from a far ultraviolet (FUV) spectrum of the solar twin 18 Sco. Additionally, low-resolution magnetograms of three solar analogues were obtained using Zeeman Doppler imaging (ZDI). Finally, the simulated wind properties were compared to Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) observations. AWSoM simulations using well constrained input parameters taken from solar observations can reproduce the observed solar wind mass and angular momentum loss rates. The resolution of the magnetogram has a small impact on the wind properties and only during cycle maximum. However, variation in Alfv\'en wave energy influences the wind properties irrespective of the solar cycle activity level. Furthermore, solar wind simulations carried out using the low-resolution magnetogram of the three stars instead of the solar magnetogram could lead to an order of a magnitude difference in the simulated wind properties. The choice in Alfv\'en energy has a stronger influence on the wind output compared to the magnetogram resolution. The influence could be even stronger for stars whose input boundary conditions are not as well constrained as those of the Sun. Unsurprisingly, replacing the solar magnetogram with a stellar magnetogram could lead to completely inaccurate solar wind properties, and should be avoided in solar and stellar wind simulations.Comment: accepted for publication in A&

DVCS on spinless nuclear targets in impulse approximation

Within the impulse approximation, we derive expressions for the amplitude of deeply virtual Compton scattering on spinless nuclei in terms of the generalized parton distributions of the nucleon. As an application, nuclear effects in the beam-charge and single-spin asymmetries are discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, Late

Two-hadron semi-inclusive production including subleading twist

We extend the analysis of two-hadron fragmentation functions to the subleading twist, discussing also the issue of color gauge invariance. Our results can be used anywhere two unpolarized hadrons are semi-inclusively produced in the same fragmentation region, also at moderate values of the hard scale Q. Here, we consider the example of polarized deep-inelastic production of two hadrons and we give a complete list of cross sections and spin asymmetries up to subleading twist. Among the results, we highlight the possibility of extracting the transversity distribution with longitudinally polarized targets and also the twist-3 distribution e(x), which is related to the pion-nucleon sigma term and to the strangeness content of the nucleon.Comment: 16 pages, RevTeX4, 5 figures, revised notation of several formulae, added text in Secs. III-V, added reference

Role of the Delta (1232) in DIS on polarized 3^3He and extraction of the neutron spin structure function g1n(x,Q2)g_{1}^{n}(x,Q^2)

We consider the effect of the transitions $n \to \Delta^{0}$ and $p \to \Delta^{+}$ in deep inelastic scattering on polarized $^3$He on the extraction of the neutron spin structure function $g_{1}^{n}(x,Q^2)$. Making the natural assumption that these transitions are the dominant non-nucleonic contributions to the renormalization of the axial vector coupling constant in the A=3 system, we find that the effect of $\Delta$ increases $g_{1}^{n}(x,Q^2)$ by $10 \div 40$% in the range $0.05 \le x \le 0.6$, where our considerations are applicable and most of the data for $g_{1}^{n}(x,Q^2)$ exist.Comment: 23 pages, 6 figures, revte

Nuclear shadowing in polarized DIS on ^6LiD at small x and its effect on the extraction of the deuteron spin structure function g_{1}^{d}(x,Q^2)

We consider the effect of nuclear shadowing in polarized deep inelastic scattering (DIS) on ^6LiD at small Bjorken x and its relevance to the extraction of the deuteron spin structure function g_{1}^{d}(x,Q^2). Using models, which describe nuclear shadowing in unpolarized DIS, we demonstrate that the nuclear shadowing correction to g_{1}^{d}(x,Q^2) is significant.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figure

Hadron formation in high energy photonuclear reactions

We present a new method to account for coherence length effects in a semi-classical transport model. This allows us to describe photo- and electroproduction at large nuclei (A>12) and high energies using a realistic coupled channel description of the final state interactions that goes beyond simple Glauber theory. We show that the purely absorptive treatment of the final state interactions can lead to wrong estimates of color transparency and formation time effects in particle production. As an example, we discuss exclusive rho^0 photoproduction on Pb at a photon energy of 7 GeV as well as K^+ production in the photon energy range 1-7 GeV.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, version published in Phys. Rev.

Polynomiality of unpolarized off-forward distribution functions and the D-term in the chiral quark-soliton model

Mellin moments of off-forward distribution functions are even polynomials of the skewedness parameter. This constraint, called polynomiality property, follows from Lorentz- and time-reversal invariance. We prove that the unpolarized off-forward distribution functions in the chiral quark-soliton model satisfy the polynomiality property. The proof is an important contribution to the demonstration that the description of off-forward distribution functions in the model is consistent. As a byproduct of the proof we derive explicit model expressions for moments of the D-term and compute the first coefficient in the Gegenbauer expansion for this term.Comment: 18 pages, no figures. Corrections and improvements in section 6. To appear in Phys.Rev.