Off-lightcone Wilson-line operators in gradient flow

TL;DR

This paper develops a systematic method to match off-lightcone Wilson-line operators in gradient flow schemes to the MS-bar scheme, providing one-loop coefficients and analyzing finite flow time effects relevant for lattice QCD calculations.

Contribution

It introduces a simplified one-loop matching procedure for off-lightcone Wilson-line operators using auxiliary fields, applicable to various QCD-related lattice computations.

Findings

Finite flow time effects are negligible when flow radius is smaller than physical distance z.

One-loop matching coefficients for local current operators are provided.

The method applies to quasi-PDFs, quarkonium decay, and spin-dependent potentials.

Abstract

Off-lightcone Wilson-line operators are constructed using local operators connected by time-like or space-like Wilson lines, which ensure gauge invariance. Off-lightcone Wilson-line operators have broad applications in various contexts. For instance, space-like Wilson-line operators play a crucial role in determining quasi-distribution functions (quasi-PDFs), while time-like Wilson-line operators are essential for understanding quarkonium decay and production within the potential non-relativistic QCD (pNRQCD) framework. In this work, we establish a systematic approach for calculating the matching from the gradient-flow scheme to the $\overline{\rm MS}$ scheme in the limit of small flow time for off-lightcone Wilson-line operators. By employing the one-dimensional auxiliary-field formalism, we simplify the matching procedure, reducing it to the matching of local current operators. We provide one-loop level matching coefficients for these local current operators. For the case of hadronic matrix element related to the quark quasi-PDFs, we show at one-loop level that the finite flow time effect is very small as long as the flow radius is smaller than the physical distance $z$, which is usually satisfied in lattice gradient flow computations. Applications include lattice gradient flow computations of quark/gluon quasi-PDFs, gluonic correlators related to quarkonium decay and production in pNRQCD, and spin-dependent potentials in terms of chromoelectric and chromomagnetic field insertions into a Wilson loop.