Distribution of linearly polarized gluons inside a large nucleus

TL;DR

This paper investigates the behavior of linearly polarized gluon distributions within a large nucleus using the color glass condensate framework, revealing saturation patterns and suppression effects at different transverse momenta.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the Weizsäcker-Williams and dipole gluon distributions, highlighting their saturation and suppression characteristics across momentum ranges.

Findings

Weizsäcker-Williams distribution saturates the positivity bound at high transverse momentum.

Dipole distribution saturates the bound for all transverse momenta.

Both distributions can be probed through specific processes.

Abstract

The distribution of linearly polarized gluons inside a large nucleus is studied in the framework of the color glass condensate. We find that the Weizs\"acker-Williams distribution saturates the positivity bound at large transverse momenta and is suppressed at small transverse momenta, whereas the dipole distribution saturates the bound for any value of the transverse momentum. We also discuss processes in which both distributions of linearly polarized gluons can be probed.