A model for high energy rho meson leptoproduction based on collinear factorization and dipole models

TL;DR

This paper develops a phenomenological model combining collinear factorization and dipole models to accurately describe rho meson leptoproduction at high energies, matching HERA experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach integrating impact factor representation with saturation effects for rho meson leptoproduction.

Findings

Excellent agreement with HERA data on polarized cross-sections

Effective modeling of helicity amplitudes T11 and T00

Incorporation of saturation effects in the dipole-target amplitude

Abstract

We present a phenomenological model for the helicity amplitudes T11 and T00 of the rho meson exclusive diffractive leptoproduction in the forward limit. This model leads to a very good description of the polarized cross-sections sigmaT and sigmaL when compared to HERA data. This model is based on the impact factor representation of the helicity amplitudes. The gamma* -> rho impact factor is computed within the light-cone collinear factorization scheme, the impact parameter space representation allowing to factorize out the dipole-target amplitude. Finally our description combines a model for the dipole-target amplitude that includes the saturation effects with the results for the impact factor where the twist 2 and twist 3 distribution amplitudes of the rho meson are involved.