Quark Transverse Momentum Distributions inside a nucleon : a Light-Front Hamiltonian Dynamics study

TL;DR

This paper investigates quark transverse momentum distributions within nucleons using light-front Hamiltonian dynamics, revealing that only three of six leading twist distributions are independent, with implications for deep inelastic scattering experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a light-front covariant framework to analyze quark transverse-momentum distributions, identifying the independence of distributions within this approach.

Findings

Only three of six leading twist T-even distributions are independent.

The framework allows extraction of neutron quark distributions from polarized 3He.

Analysis extends to finite momentum transfers in a covariant manner.

Abstract

Through an impulse approximation analysis of single spin Sivers and Collins asymmetries in the Bjorken limit, the possibility to extract the quark transverse-momentum distributions in the neutron from semi-inclusive deep inelastic electron scattering off polarized 3He is illustrated. The analysis is generalized to finite momentum transfers in a light-front Poincare' covariant framework, defining the light-front spin-dependent spectral function of a J=1/2 system. The definition of the light-front spin-dependent spectral function for constituent quarks in the nucleon allows us to show that, within the light-front dynamics, only three of the six leading twist T-even transverse-momentum distributions are independent.