An Implication on the Pion Distribution Amplitude from the Pion-Photon Transition Form Factor with the New BABAR Data

The new BABAR data on the pion-photon transition form factor arouses people's new interests on the determination of pion distribution amplitude. To explain the data, we take both the leading valence quark state's and the non-valence quark states' contributions into consideration, where the valence quark part up to next-to-leading order is presented and the non-valence quark part is estimated by a phenomenological model based on its limiting behavior at both $Q^2\to 0$ and $Q^2\to\infty$. Our results show that to be consistent with the new BABAR data at large $Q^2$ region, a broader other than the asymptotic-like pion distribution amplitude should be adopted. The broadness of the pion distribution amplitude is controlled by a parameter $B$. It has been found that the new BABAR data at low and high energy regions can be explained simultaneously by setting $B$ to be around 0.60, in which the pion distribution amplitude is closed to the Chernyak-Zhitnitsky form.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables. Slightly changed, references updated. To be published in Phys.Rev.

Next-to-leading-order corrections to exclusive processes in kTk_T factorization

We calculate next-to-leading-order (NLO) corrections to exclusive processes in $k_T$ factorization theorem, taking $\pi\gamma^*\to\gamma$ as an example. Partons off-shell by $k_T^2$ are considered in both the quark diagrams from full QCD and the effective diagrams for the pion wave function. The gauge dependences in the above two sets of diagrams cancel, when deriving the $k_T$-dependent hard kernel as their difference. The gauge invariance of the hard kernel is then proven to all orders by induction. The light-cone singularities in the $k_T$-dependent pion wave function are regularized by rotating the Wilson lines away from the light cone. This regularization introduces a factorization-scheme dependence into the hard kernel, which can be minimized in the standard way. Both the large double logarithms $\ln^2k_T$ and $\ln^2 x$, $x$ being a parton momentum fraction, arise from the loop correction to the virtual photon vertex, the former being absorbed into the pion wave function and organized by the $k_T$ resummation, and the latter absorbed into a jet function and organized by the threshold resummation. The NLO corrections are found to be only few-percent for $\pi\gamma^*\to\gamma$, if setting the factorization scale to the momentum transfer from the virtual photon.Comment: 13 pages; version to appear in Physical Review

Transverse-Momentum Dependent Factorization for gamma^* pi^0 to gamma

With a consistent definition of transverse-momentum dependent (TMD) light-cone wave function, we show that the amplitude for the process $\gamma^* \pi^0 \to\gamma$ can be factorized when the virtuality of the initial photon is large. In contrast to the collinear factorization in which the amplitude is factorized as a convolution of the standard light-cone wave function and a hard part, the TMD factorization yields a convolution of a TMD light-cone wave function, a soft factor and a hard part. We explicitly show that the TMD factorization holds at one loop level. It is expected that the factorization holds beyond one-loop level because the cancelation of soft divergences is on a diagram-by-diagram basis. We also show that the TMD factorization helps to resum large logarithms of type $\ln^2x$.Comment: Published version in Phys.Rev.D75:014014,200

Pion transition form factor in the Regge approach and incomplete vector-meson dominance

The concept of incomplete vector-meson dominance and Regge models is applied to the transition form factor of the pion. First, we argue that variants of the chiral quark model fulfilling the chiral anomaly may violate the Terazawa-West unitarity bounds, as these bounds are based on unverified assumptions for the real parts of the amplitudes, precluding a possible presence of polynomial terms. A direct consequence is that the transition form factor need not necessarily vanish at large values of the photon virtuality. Moreover, in the range of the BaBar experiment, the Terazawa-West bound is an order of magnitude above the data, thus is of formal rather than practical interest. Then we demonstrate how the experimental data may be properly explained with incomplete vector-meson dominance in a simple model with one state, as well as in more sophisticated Regge models. Generalizations of the simple Regge model along the lines of Dominguez result in a proper description of the data, where one may adjust the parameters in such a way that the Terazawa-West bound is satisfied or violated. We also impose the experimental constraint from the Z -> pi0 gamma decay. Finally, we point out that the photon momentum asymmetry parameter may noticeably influence the precision analysis.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure

Light Cone Sum Rules for the pi0-gamma*-gamma Form Factor Revisited

We provide a theoretical update of the calculations of the pi0-gamma*-gamma form factor in the LCSR framework, including up to six polynomials in the conformal expansion of the pion distribution amplitude and taking into account twist-six corrections related to the photon emission at large distances. The results are compared with the calculations of the B-> pi l nu decay and pion electromagnetic form factors in the same framework. Our conclusion is that the recent BaBar measurements of the pi0-gamma*-gamma form factor at large momentum transfers are consistent with QCD, although they do suggest that the pion DA may have more structure than usually assumed.Comment: 20 pages, 14 figures, 5 table

The gluon content of the η\eta and η′\eta^{\prime} mesons and the ηγ\eta\gamma, η′γ\eta^{\prime}\gamma electromagnetic transition form factors

We compute power-suppressed corrections to the \eta\gamma and \eta^{\prime}\gamma transition form factors Q^2F_{\eta(\eta^{\prime})\gamma}(Q^2) arising from the end point regions x \to 0,1 by employing the infrared-renormalon approach. The contribution to the form factors from the quark and gluon content of the \eta,\eta^{\prime} mesons is taken into account using for the \eta-\eta^{\prime} mixing the SU_f(3) singlet \eta_1 and octet \eta_8 basis. The theoretical predictions obtained this way are compared with the corresponding CLEO data and restrictions on the input parameters (Gegenbauer coefficients) B_2^q(\eta_1), B_2^g(\eta_1), and B_2^q(\eta_8) in the distribution amplitudes for the \eta_1,\eta_8 states with one nonasymptotic term are deduced. Comparison is made with the results from QCD perturbation theory.Comment: 25 pages, RevTeX4 used. 9 figures as EPS files. Text significantly changed to include variation of theoretical parameters. Figures modified. Corrected typo in equation (34) and trivial mistake in $\beta_1$-coefficient. References added. Conclusions unchange

Shape of Pion Distribution Amplitude

A scenario is investigated in which the leading-twist pion distribution amplitude phi_pi (x) is approximated by the pion decay constant f_pi for all essential values of the light-cone fraction x. A model for the light-front wave function Psi(x,k_perp) is proposed that produces such a distribution amplitude and has a rapidly decreasing (exponential for definiteness) dependence on the light-front energy combination k_perp^2/x(1-x). It is shown that this model easily reproduces the fit of recent large-Q^2 BaBar data on the photon-pion transition form factor. Some aspects of scenario with flat pion distribution amplitude are discussed.Comment: References added, typos fixed, one figure added, some minor changes in tex

Pion Form Factor in the kTk_T Factorization Formalism

Based on the light-cone (LC) framework and the $k_T$ factorization formalism, the transverse momentum effects and the different helicity components' contributions to the pion form factor $F_{\pi}(Q^2)$ are recalculated. In particular, the contribution to the pion form factor from the higher helicity components ($\lambda_1+\lambda_2=\pm 1$), which come from the spin-space Wigner rotation, are analyzed in the soft and hard energy regions respectively. Our results show that the right power behavior of the hard contribution from the higher helicity components can only be obtained by fully keeping the $k_T$ dependence in the hard amplitude, and that the $k_T$ dependence in LC wave function affects the hard and soft contributions substantially. As an example, we employ a model LC wave function to calculate the pion form factor and then compare the numerical predictions with the experimental data. It is shown that the soft contribution is less important at the intermediate energy region.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figure

Endpoint behavior of the pion distribution amplitude in QCD sum rules with nonlocal condensates

Starting from the QCD sum rules with nonlocal condensates for the pion distribution amplitude, we derive another sum rule for its derivative and its "integral" derivatives---defined in this work. We use this new sum rule to analyze the fine details of the pion distribution amplitude in the endpoint region $x\sim 0$. The results for endpoint-suppressed and flat-top (or flat-like) pion distribution amplitudes are compared with those we obtained with differential sum rules by employing two different models for the distribution of vacuum-quark virtualities. We determine the range of values of the derivatives of the pion distribution amplitude and show that endpoint-suppressed distribution amplitudes lie within this range, while those with endpoint enhancement---flat-type or CZ-like---yield values outside this range.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures, 1 table, conclusions update

Anomalous Form Factor of the Neutral Pion in Extended AdS/QCD Model with Chern-Simons Term

We propose an extension of the hard-wall AdS/QCD model by including the Chern-Simons term required to reproduce the chiral anomaly of QCD. In the framework of this holographic model, we study the vertex function F_{\pi \gamma^* \gamma^*}(Q_1^2,Q_2^2) which accumulates information about the coupling of the pion to two (in general virtual) photons. We calculate the slope of the form factor with one real and one slightly virtual photon and show that it is close to experimental findings. We analyze the formal limit of large virtualities and establish that predictions of the holographic model analytically (including nontrivial dependence on the ratio of photon virtualities) coincide with those of perturbative QCD with asymptotic pion distribution amplitude. We also investigate the generalized VMD structure of F_{\pi \gamma^* \gamma^*}(Q_1^2,Q_2^2) in the extended AdS/QCD model.Comment: 15 pages, 5 Figures, 4 Tables. Clarifications, 1 Table and references added, typos fixe