Pion and kaon valence-quark parton distribution functions

TL;DR

This paper uses a Dyson-Schwinger equation approach to calculate the valence-quark distribution functions of the pion and kaon, successfully matching experimental data and unifying various meson properties.

Contribution

It introduces a parameter-free method to compute meson distribution functions within a Dyson-Schwinger framework, linking them to other meson properties.

Findings

Good agreement with pion's u-quark distribution data

Accurate prediction of u_K(x)/u_π(x) ratio without free parameters

Unified description of meson distribution functions and properties

Abstract

A rainbow-ladder truncation of QCD's Dyson-Schwinger equations, constrained by existing applications to hadron physics, is employed to compute the valence-quark parton distribution functions of the pion and kaon. Comparison is made to pi-N Drell-Yan data for the pion's u-quark distribution and to Drell-Yan data for the ratio u_K(x)/u_\pi(x): the environmental influence of this quantity is a parameter-free prediction, which agrees well with existing data. Our analysis unifies the computation of distribution functions with that of numerous other properties of pseudoscalar mesons.