Intrinsic transverse momentum and parton correlations from nonperturbative short-range interactions

TL;DR

This paper explores how nonperturbative short-range interactions in QCD influence the nucleon's partonic structure, revealing intrinsic transverse momenta of sea quarks and their correlations, with implications for high-energy scattering processes.

Contribution

It demonstrates that sea quarks have large intrinsic transverse momenta and form correlated pairs with specific quantum numbers, based on an effective model of chiral symmetry breaking in QCD.

Findings

Sea quarks have intrinsic transverse momenta up to ~0.6 GeV.

Sea quarks exist partly in correlated pairs with specific quantum numbers.

Implications for transverse momentum distributions in semi-inclusive DIS and pp collisions.

Abstract

We summarize recent progress in understanding the effects of nonperturbative short-range interactions in QCD on the nucleon's partonic structure at a low scale: (a) Sea quarks have intrinsic transverse momenta up to the chiral symmetry-breaking scale rho^{-1} ~ 0.6 GeV, much larger than those of valence quarks. (b) Sea quarks in the nucleon light-cone wave function exist partly in correlated in pairs of transverse size rho with sigma and pi-like quantum numbers and a distinctive spin structure (L = 1 components). The effects are demonstrated in an effective model of the low-energy dynamics resulting from chiral symmetry breaking in QCD. They have numerous implications for the P_T distribution of hadrons in semi-inclusive DIS and multiparton processes in high-energy pp collisions.