An analytic solution to LO coupled DGLAP evolution equations: a new pQCD tool

TL;DR

This paper presents an exact analytical solution to LO pQCD DGLAP equations using Laplace transforms, enabling highly accurate, rapid evolution and devolution of singlet structure functions, with applications for independent validation of existing parton distribution functions.

Contribution

The authors develop a novel Laplace transform-based method to decouple and solve LO DGLAP equations analytically, improving accuracy and efficiency over traditional numerical approaches.

Findings

Achieved numerical precision of about 10^{-9} in evolution calculations.

Validated the method by comparing with MSTW2008 and CTEQ6L LO distributions.

Provided a new tool for analyzing parton distributions at various Q^2 and Q_0^2 values.

Abstract

We have analytically solved the LO pQCD singlet DGLAP equations using Laplace transform techniques. Newly-developed highly accurate numerical inverse Laplace transform algorithms allow us to write fully decoupled solutions for the singlet structure function F_s(x,Q^2)and G(x,Q^2) as F_s(x,Q^2)={\cal F}_s(F_{s0}(x), G_0(x)) and G(x,Q^2)={\cal G}(F_{s0}(x), G_0(x)). Here {\cal F}_s and \cal G are known functions of the initial boundary conditions F_{s0}(x) = F_s(x,Q_0^2) and G_{0}(x) = G(x,Q_0^2), i.e., the chosen starting functions at the virtuality Q_0^2. For both G and F_s, we are able to either devolve or evolve each separately and rapidly, with very high numerical accuracy, a computational fractional precision of O(10^{-9}). Armed with this powerful new tool in the pQCD arsenal, we compare our numerical results from the above equations with the published MSTW2008 and CTEQ6L LO gluon and singlet F_s distributions, starting from their initial values at Q_0^2=1 GeV^2 and 1.69 GeV^2, respectively, using their choices of \alpha_s(Q^2). This allows an important independent check on the accuracies of their evolution codes and therefore the computational accuracies of their published parton distributions. Our method completely decouples the two LO distributions, at the same time guaranteeing that both G and F_s satisfy the singlet coupled DGLAP equations. It also allows one to easily obtain the effects of the starting functions on the evolved gluon and singlet structure functions, as functions of both Q^2 and Q_0^2, being equally accurate in devolution as in evolution. Further, it can also be used for non-singlet distributions, thus giving LO analytic solutions for individual quark and gluon distributions at a given x and Q^2, rather than the numerical solutions of the coupled integral-differential equations on a large, but fixed, two-dimensional grid that are currently available.