Heavy-quark contributions to the polarized DIS structure functions at NLO in the ACOT scheme

TL;DR

This paper calculates heavy-quark contributions to polarized deep-inelastic scattering structure functions at NLO using the ACOT scheme, enhancing understanding of heavy-flavor effects in spin-dependent QCD processes.

Contribution

It provides the first NLO calculations of heavy-quark contributions to multiple polarized structure functions within the ACOT scheme, ensuring theoretical consistency across kinematic regimes.

Findings

Computed $g_1$, $g_4$, $g_5$, $g_6$, and $g_7$ structure functions at NLO.

Presented analytical expressions and numerical implementations.

Clarified the role of heavy quarks in polarized DIS.

Abstract

This study explores the heavy-quark contributions to polarized structure functions in deep-inelastic scattering at next-to-leading order. The structure functions $g_1$, $g_4$, $g_5$, $g_6$, and $g_7$ are computed, while $g_2$ and $g_3$ are excluded due to the higher-twist suppression. The calculations are performed within the ACOT renormalization scheme, which ensures theoretical consistency across kinematic regions where heavy quarks transition from being dynamically produced to fully active degrees of freedom. By incorporating heavy-flavor contributions at next-to-leading-order, this work provides deeper insights into their role in polarized structure functions and the spin-dependent dynamics of QCD. Both analytical results and their numerical implementation are presented.