Back-to-back dijet production in DIS at arbitrary Bjorken-x: TMD gluon distributions to twist-3 accuracy

TL;DR

This paper develops a comprehensive operator framework for gluon TMDs in back-to-back dijet production in DIS at any Bjorken-x, including twist-3 accuracy, bridging moderate- and small-x regimes.

Contribution

It derives the gluon TMD operator structure at arbitrary x to twist-3, extending the theoretical understanding beyond the high-energy eikonal approximation.

Findings

Explicit cross sections for polarized virtual photons derived.

Identifies all relevant gluon TMD operators up to twist-3.

Connects the general-x TMD framework with small-x CGC results.

Abstract

We derive the gluon transverse-momentum-dependent (TMD) operator structure of back-to-back quark-antiquark dijet production in deep inelastic scattering at arbitrary Bjorken-x to twist-3 accuracy. Working at leading order in the strong coupling and in the kinematic regime where the transverse momentum imbalance of the jets is much smaller than their individual transverse momenta, we perform a systematic gradient expansion of the quark propagator in a background gluon field. This expansion organizes multiple interactions with the target in terms of longitudinal Wilson lines and gauge-invariant field-strength insertions, yielding a TMD description valid beyond the strict high-energy eikonal (x -> 0) approximation. We obtain explicit cross sections for longitudinally and transversely polarized virtual photons, identifying all contributing gluon TMD operators up to twist-3, including structures involving F_+-, F_ij, and three-gluon correlators. The full longitudinal phase associated with Bjorken-x is retained throughout. In the small-x limit, our results reproduce the known sub-eikonal expressions obtained in the Color Glass Condensate framework, establishing a direct connection between the general-x TMD expansion and high-energy factorization. We further reduce the operator basis using equations of motion, minimizing the number of independent nonperturbative matrix elements entering the cross section. This work provides a systematic foundation for extending TMD analyses of dijet production beyond leading twist, establishing a unified operator framework valid at arbitrary Bjorken x that smoothly interpolates between moderate- and small-x descriptions of gluon TMDs.