Vector Meson production from NLL BFKL

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the application of NLL BFKL in perturbative QCD to vector meson production, analyzing systematic effects and optimization methods to improve theoretical predictions.

Contribution

It provides the first physical application of the BFKL approach at next-to-leading order for vector meson production in the Regge limit.

Findings

The amplitude can be fully expressed within perturbative QCD at NLL accuracy.

Different amplitude representations and optimization methods affect the systematic effects.

The study advances the understanding of BFKL dynamics in exclusive vector meson production.

Abstract

The amplitude for the forward electroproduction of two light vector mesons can be written completely within perturbative QCD in the Regge limit with next-to-leading accuracy, thus providing the first example of a physical application of the BFKL approach at the next-to-leading order. We study in the case of equal photon virtualities the main systematic effects, by considering a different representation of the amplitude and different optimization methods of the perturbative series.