Probing multigluon correlations through single spin asymmetries in pp collisions

TL;DR

This paper investigates how three-gluon correlations in a transversely polarized proton influence single spin asymmetries in various particle production processes during proton-proton collisions, providing theoretical formulas and model calculations.

Contribution

It introduces a leading-order QCD formula for single spin asymmetries driven by three-gluon correlations and explores their impact on different particle production channels.

Findings

Asymmetries are sensitive to the form of three-gluon correlation functions.

Theoretical formulas enable predictions of spin asymmetries in experiments.

Model calculations demonstrate the potential size of these asymmetries.

Abstract

We study the single spin asymmetries for the $D$-meson production, Drell-Yan lepton-pair production and the direct-photon production in the $pp$ collision induced by the twist-3 three-gluon correlation functions in the transversely polarized nucleon. We present a corresponding polarized cross section formula in the leading-order with respect to the QCD coupling and a model calculation for the asymmetries, illustrating the sensitivity to the form of the correlation functions.