Deeply Virtual Exclusive Processes with Charm

We propose to investigate a largely unexplored sector that is unique to the formulation of hard exclusive processes in terms of GPDs, namely the electroproduction of strange and charmed mesons in the kinematical ranges of Jefferson Lab's 12 GeV upgrade, and of the proposed Electron Ion Collider (EIC). In this contribution we focus on charmed meson production that is unique to the EIC. Exclusive strange and charmed meson production provides new insights in the connection of the quark/gluon degrees of freedom with the meson-baryon description, both in the unpolarized and polarized sectors. However, as particularly evident in polarized scattering, the underlying mechanisms are still far from being fully understood. We present an approach in terms of generalized parton distributions. As an application, we show that through exclusive electroproduction of pseudoscalar charmed mesons one can uniquely single out the non-perturbative charmed component in the nucleon structure function.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, to appear in proceedings of Workshop on Exclusive Reactions at High Momentum Transfer (IV), Jefferson Lab, May 18-21, 201

Partonic Interpretation of Generalized Parton Distributions

Generalized Parton Distributions describe, within QCD factorization, the non perturbative component in the amplitudes for deeply virtual exclusive processes. However, in order for a partonic interpretation to hold, semi-disconnected diagrams should not contribute. We show that this condition is not satisfied for non-forward kinematics at leading order, and that gluon mediated re-interactions are essential for a consistent description in terms of parton degrees of freedom.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, replaced figure 2, revised conclusions, added reference

Pseudoscalar Meson Electroproduction and Tranversity

Exclusive meson leptoproduction from nucleons in the deeply virtual exchanged boson limit can be described by generalized parton distributions (GPDs). Including spin dependence in the description requires 8 independent quark-parton and gluon-parton functions. The chiral even subset of 4 quark-nucleon GPDs are related to nucleon form factors and to parton distribution functions. The chiral odd set of 4 quark-nucleon GPDs are related to transversity, the tensor charge, and other quantities related to transversity. Different meson or photon production processes access different combinations of GPDs. This is analyzed in terms of $t$-channel exchange quantum numbers, $J^{PC}$ and it is shown that pseudoscalar production can isolate chiral odd GPDs. There is a sensitive dependence in various cross sections and asymmetries on the tensor charge of the nucleon and other transversity parameters. In a second section, analyticity and completeness are shown to limit the partonic interpretation of the GPDs in the ERBL region.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, presented at Exclusives 2010 Workshop, May 18-20, Jefferson La