Meson cloud effects on the pion quark distribution function in the chiral constituent quark model

TL;DR

This paper studies how meson cloud effects influence the pion's valence quark distribution within the chiral constituent quark model, revealing significant modifications especially at small and large Bjorken x values.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of meson cloud effects on pion valence quark distribution using the chiral constituent quark model, highlighting the quantitative impact.

Findings

32% reduction in valence quark distribution due to meson cloud

Enhancement of distribution at small Bjorken x

Softer valence quark distribution at large x

Abstract

We investigate the valence quark distribution function of the pion $v^{\pi}(x,Q^2)$ in the framework of the chiral constituent quark model and evaluate the meson cloud effects on $v^{\pi}(x,Q^2)$. We explicitly demonstrate how the meson cloud effects affect $v^{\pi}(x,Q^2)$ in detail. We find that the meson cloud correction causes an overall 32\% reduction of the valence quark distribution and an enhancement at the small Bjorken $x$ regime. Besides, we also find that the dressing effect of the meson cloud will make the valence quark distribution to be softer in the large $x$ region.