Timelike Compton Scattering - New Theoretical Results and Experimental Possibilities

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent advances in timelike Compton scattering (TCS), highlighting the importance of NLO corrections for GPD extraction and discussing experimental prospects at RHIC and LHC for probing quark and gluon GPDs at small skewness.

Contribution

It provides new theoretical insights into TCS, emphasizing the necessity of NLO corrections and exploring experimental possibilities at high-energy colliders.

Findings

NLO corrections are crucial for accurate GPD extraction.

TCS at high energy can be studied via ultraperipheral collisions.

Potential to probe quark and gluon GPDs at small skewness.

Abstract

We review recent progress in the study of timelike Compton scattering (TCS), the crossed process of deeply virtual Compton scattering. We emphasize the need to include NLO corrections to any phenomenological program to extract Generalized Parton Distributions (GPDs) from near future experimental data. We point out that TCS at high energy should be available through a study of ultraperipheral collisions at RHIC and LHC, opening a window on quark and gluon GPDs at very small skewness.