Skewed generalized parton distributions of proton from basis light-front quantization

TL;DR

This paper calculates the proton's leading-twist quark generalized parton distributions at nonzero skewness using basis light-front quantization, revealing diffraction patterns in the longitudinal coordinate space.

Contribution

It introduces a novel calculation of GPDs with a light-front Hamiltonian including confinement and one-gluon exchange, showing diffraction patterns in $\sigma$-space.

Findings

GPDs exhibit diffraction patterns in $\sigma$-space.

Qualitative behaviors align with other theoretical models.

GPDs show similar features at nonzero skewness.

Abstract

We obtain all the leading-twist quark generalized parton distributions (GPDs) inside the proton at nonzero skewness within the basis light-front quantization framework. We employ the light-front wave functions of the proton from a light-front quantized Hamiltonian in the valence Fock sector consisting of a three-dimensional confinement potential and a one-gluon exchange interaction with fixed coupling. We find that the qualitative behaviors of our GPDs are similar to those of other theoretical calculations. We further examine the GPDs within the boost-invariant longitudinal coordinate, $\sigma=\frac{1}{2} b^- P^+$, which is identified as the Fourier conjugate of the skewness. The GPDs in the $\sigma$-space show diffraction patterns, which are akin to the diffractive scattering of a wave in optics.