Azimuthal Asymmetry and Ratio $R= F_L / F_T$ as Probes of the Charm Content of the Proton

TL;DR

This paper proposes using the Callan-Gross ratio and azimuthal asymmetry in deep inelastic scattering as stable probes to measure the charm quark content within the proton, with potential applications at future colliders.

Contribution

It introduces a perturbatively stable method to determine heavy-quark densities in the proton using specific measurable ratios and asymmetries in deep inelastic scattering.

Findings

QCD predictions for $R$ and azimuthal asymmetry are perturbatively stable.

Heavy-quark densities can be extracted from these observables.

Future colliders like LHeC and EIC can measure the charm content.

Abstract

We study two experimental ways to measure the heavy-quark content of the proton: using the Callan-Gross ratio $R(x,Q^2)=F_L/F_T$ and/or azimuthal $\cos(2\varphi)$ asymmetry in deep inelastic lepton-nucleon scattering. Our approach is based on the perturbative stability of the QCD predictions for these two quantities. We resume the mass logarithms of the type $\alpha_{s}\ln\left( Q^{2}/m^{2}\right)$ and conclude that heavy-quark densities in the nucleon can, in principle, be determined from data on the Callan-Gross ratio and/or azimuthal asymmetry. In particular, the charm content of the proton can be measured in future studies at the proposed Large Hadron-Electron (LHeC) and Electron-Ion (EIC) Colliders.