Neutron contribution to nuclear DVCS asymmetries

Using a simple model for nuclear GPDs, we study the role of the neutron contribution to nuclear DVCS observables. As an example, we use the beam-spin asymmetry A_{LU}^A measured in coherent and incoherent DVCS on a wide range of nuclear targets in the HERMES and JLab kinematics. We find that at small values of the momentum transfer t, A_{LU}^A is dominated by the coherent-enriched contribution, which enhances A_{LU}^A compared to the free proton asymmetry A_{LU}^p, A_{LU}^A(\phi)/A_{LU}^p(\phi)=1.8-2.2. At large values of t, the nuclear asymmetry is dominated by the incoherent contribution and A_{LU}^A/(\phi)A_{LU}^p(\phi)=0.66-0.74. The deviation of A_{LU}^A(\phi)/A_{LU}^p(\phi) from unity at large t is a result of the neutron contribution, which gives a possibility to constain neutron GPDs in incoherent nuclear DVCS. A similar trend is expected for other DVCS asymmetries.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figure

A fresh look at factorization breaking in diffractive photoproduction of dijets at HERA at next-to-leading order QCD

We calculate the cross section of diffractive dijet photoproduction in $ep$ scattering at next-to-leading order (NLO) of perturbative QCD (pQCD), which we supplement by a model of factorization breaking for the resolved-photon contribution. In this model, the suppression depends on the flavor and momentum fraction of the partons in the photon. We show that within experimental and theoretical uncertainties, the resulting approach provides a good description of the available HERA data in most of the bins. Hence, taken together with the observation that NLO pQCD explains well the data on diffractive photoproduction of open charm in $ep$ scattering, our model of factorization breaking presents a viable alternative to the scheme based on the global suppression factor.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures. Final published versio

Rapidity and momentum transfer distributions of coherent J/ψJ/\psi photoproduction in ultraperipheral pPb collisions at the LHC

Based on accurate calculations of the flux of equivalent photons of the proton and heavy nuclei and the pQCD framework for the gluon distribution in the proton and nuclei, we analyze the rapidity and momentum transfer distributions of coherent $J/\psi$ photoproduction in ultraperipheral proton-Pb collisions at the LHC. We demonstrate that unlike the case of proton-proton UPCs marred by certain theoretical uncertainties and experimental limitations, after a cut excluding the region of small momentum transfers, ultraperipheral proton-Pb collisions offer a clean way to study the gluon distribution in the proton down to $x \approx 10^{-5}$. Our analysis of the momentum transfer distributions shows that an interplay of $J/\psi$ production by low-energy photons on the nucleus and by high-energy photons on the proton in proton-Pb UPCs can result in some excess of events at small $p_t$ in a definite region of the rapidity y.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures. The final published versio

Generalized parton distributions of nuclei

We review recent theoretical results on generalized parton distributions (GPDs) of nuclei, emphasizing the following three roles of nuclear GPDs: (i) complementarity to free proton GPDs, (ii) the enhancement of traditional nuclear effects such as nuclear binding, EMC effect, nuclear shadowing, and (iii) an access to novel nuclear effects such as medium modifications of bound nucleons.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. Revised version contains additional references. Presented at CIPANP 2009: 10th Conference on the Intersections of Particle and Nuclear Physics, La Jolla, California, May 26-31, 200