The impact factor for the virtual photon to light vector meson transition

We evaluate in the next-to-leading approximation the forward impact factor for the virtual photon to light vector meson transition in the case of longitudinal polarization. We find that in the hard kinematic domain, both in the leading and in the next-to-leading approximation, the expression for the impact factor factorizes, up to power suppressed corrections, into the convolution of a perturbatively calculable hard-scattering amplitude and a meson twist-2 distribution amplitude.Comment: 31 pages latex; few comments and one reference added; version to appear in Eur. Phys. Journal

Radiative Corrections to QCD Amplitudes in Quasi-Multi-Regge Kinematics

Radiative corrections to QCD amplitudes in the quasi-multi-Regge kinematics are interesting in particular since the Reggeized form of these amplitudes is used in the derivation of the NLO BFKL. This form is a hypothesis which must be at least carefully checked, if not proved. We calculate the radiative corrections in the one-loop approximation using the s-channel unitarity. Compatibility of the Reggeized form of the amplitudes with the s-channel unitarity requires fulfillment of the set of nonlinear equations for the Reggeon vertices. We show that these equations are satisfied.Comment: 28 pages,3 figure

The Quark Impact Factors

We calculate in the next-to-leading approximation the non-forward quark impact factors for both singlet and octet color representation in the $t$-channel. The integral representation of the octet impact factor in the general case of arbitrary space-time dimension and massive quark flavors is used to check the so-called "second bootstrap condition" for the gluon Reggeization at the next-to-leading logarithmic approximation in perturbative QCD. We find that it is satisfied for both helicity conserving and non-conserving parts. The integrations are then performed for the explicit calculation of the impact factors in the massless quark case.Comment: 23 pages, LaTeX, 1 EPS figure, uses epsf.sty and axodraw.st

Calculation of Reggeon Vertices in QCD

The method of calculation of effective vertices of interaction of the Reggeized gluon and quark with particles in QCD in the next-to-leading order is developed. The method is demonstrated in the case of already known vertices of both gluon-gluon and quark-quark transitions in the scattering of gluons and quarks on the Reggeized gluon. It is used for the calculation of the gluon-quark transition in the scattering on the Reggeized quark.Comment: 27 pages, LaTex, 1 figure, uses axodraw.st

Electroproduction of two light vector mesons in next-to-leading BFKL: study of systematic effects

The forward electroproduction of two light vector mesons is the first example of a collision process between strongly interacting colorless particles for which the amplitude can be written completely within perturbative QCD in the Regge limit with next-to-leading accuracy. In a previous paper we have given a numerical determination of the amplitude in the case of equal photon virtualities by using a definite representation for the amplitude and a definite optimization method for the perturbative series. Here we estimate the systematic uncertainty of our previous determination, by considering a different representation of the amplitude and different optimization methods of the perturbative series. Moreover, we compare our result for the differential cross section at the minimum momentum transfer with a different approach, based on collinear kernel improvement.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures; journal version, new figures and discussion adde

The Gluon Impact Factors

We calculate in the next-to-leading approximation the non-forward gluon impact factors for arbitrary color state in the $t$-channel. In the case of the octet state we check the so-called "second bootstrap condition" for the gluon Reggeization in QCD, using the integral representation for the impact factors. The condition is fulfilled in the general case of an arbitrary space-time dimension and massive quark flavors for both helicity conserving and non-conserving parts.Comment: 32 pages, LaTeX, 1 EPS figure, uses epsf.sty and axodraw.st

The quark part of the non-forward BFKL kernel and the ``bootstrap'' for the gluon Reggeization

We calculate the quark part of the kernel of the generalized non-forward BFKL equation at non-zero momentum transfer $t$ in the next-to-leading logarithmic approximation. Along with the quark contribution to the gluon Regge trajectory, this part includes pieces coming from the quark-antiquark production and from the quark contribution to the radiative corrections in one-gluon production in the Reggeon-Reggeon collisions. The results obtained can be used for an arbitrary representation of the colour group in the $t-$channel. Using the results for the adjoint representation, we demonstrate explicitly the fulfillment of the ``bootstrap'' condition for the gluon Reggeization in the next-to-leading logarithmic approximation in the part concerning the quark contribution.Comment: 26 pages, LaTeX, uses axodraw.sty; revised final comment; to appear on Phys. Rev.

Photon-Reggeon Interaction Vertices in the Nla

We calculate the effective vertices for the quark-antiquark and the quark-antiquark-gluon production in the virtual photon - Reggeized gluon interaction. The last vertex is considered at the Born level; for the first one the one-loop corrections are obtained. These vertices have a number of applications; in particular, they are necessary for calculation of the virtual photon impact factor in the next-to-leading logarithmic approximation.Comment: 20 pages, references adde

Minimal Subtraction vs. Physical Factorisation Schemes in Small-x QCD

We investigate the relationship of ``physical'' parton densities defined by kt-factorisation, to those in the minimal subtraction scheme, by comparing their small-x behaviour. We first summarize recent results on the above scheme change derived from the BFKL equation at NLx level, and we then propose a simple extension to the renormalisation-group improved (RGI) equation. In this way we are able the examine the difference between resummed gluon distributions in the Q_0 and MSbar schemes and also to show MSbar scheme resummed results for P_gg and approximate ones for P_qg. We find that, due to the stability of the RGI approach, small-x resummation effects are not much affected by the scheme-change in the gluon channel, while they are relatively more sensitive for the quark-gluon mixing.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figure

Heavy Pair Production Currents with General Quantum Numbers in Dimensionally Regularized NRQCD

We discuss the form and construction of general color singlet heavy particle-antiparticle pair production currents for arbitrary quantum numbers, and issues related to evanescent spin operators and scheme-dependences in nonrelativistic QCD (NRQCD) in n=3-2epsilon dimensions. The anomalous dimensions of the leading interpolating currents for heavy quark and colored scalar pairs in arbitrary (2S+1)L_J angular-spin states are determined at next-to-leading order in the nonrelativistic power counting.Comment: 39 pages, 2 tables, 10 figures; typos corrected, published versio