3D structure of hadrons by generalized distribution amplitudes and gravitational form factors

TL;DR

This paper analyzes Belle experimental data to extract pion generalized distribution amplitudes, enabling the calculation of gravitational form factors and radii, thus providing insights into the three-dimensional structure of hadrons and gravitational properties at the quark-gluon level.

Contribution

The study is the first to determine pion GDAs from experimental data, linking them to gravitational form factors and radii, advancing the understanding of hadron structure and gravitational physics.

Findings

Pion mass radius estimated at 0.56-0.69 fm.

Mechanical radius estimated at 1.45-1.56 fm.

Gravitational form factors derived from experimental data.

Abstract

Generalized distribution amplitudes (GDAs) are one type of three-dimensional structure functions, and they are related to the generalized distribution functions (GPDs) by the $s$-$t$ crossing of the Mandelstam variables. The GDA studies provide information on three-dimensional tomography of hadrons. The GDAs can be investigated by the two-photon process $\gamma^* \gamma \to h\bar h$, and the GPDs are studied by the deeply virtual Compton scattering $\gamma^* h \to \gamma h$. The GDA studies had been pure theoretical topics, although the GPDs have been experimentally investigated, because there was no available experimental measurement. Recently, the Belle collaboration reported their measurements on the $\gamma^* \gamma \to \pi^0 \pi^0$ differential cross section, so that it became possible to find the GDAs from their measurements. Here, we report our analysis of the Belle data for determining the pion GDAs. From the GDAs, the timelike gravitational form factors $\Theta_1 (s)$ and $\Theta_2 (s)$ can be calculated, which are mechanical (pressure, shear force) and mass (energy) form factors, respectively. They are converted to the spacelike form factors by using the dispersion relation, and then gravitational radii are evaluated for the pion. The mass and mechanical radii are obtained from $\Theta_2$ and $\Theta_1$ as $\sqrt {\langle r^2 \rangle_{\text{mass}}} =0.56 \sim 0.69$ fm and $\sqrt {\langle r^2 \rangle_{\text{mech}}} =1.45 \sim 1.56$ fm, whereas the experimental charge radius is $\sqrt {\langle r^2 \rangle_{\text{charge}}} =0.672 \pm 0.008$ fm for the charged pion. Future developments are expected in this new field to explore gravitational physics in the quark and gluon level.