Measurement of Light-Cone Wave Functions by Diffractive Dissociation

TL;DR

This paper reports on Fermilab experiment E791's measurement of pion light-cone wave functions through diffractive dissociation into di-jets, confirming the asymptotic wave function at high Q^2.

Contribution

It provides experimental validation of the pion light-cone wave function using high-energy diffractive dissociation data.

Findings

The |q qbar> wave function describes the data well at Q^2 ~ 10 (GeV/c)^2.

Diffractive dissociation effectively probes the internal structure of pions.

Experimental results support theoretical models of light-cone wave functions.

Abstract

Diffractive dissociation of particles can be used to study their light-cone wave functions. Results from Fermilab experiment E791 for diffractive dissociation of 500 GeV/c pi- mesons into di-jets show that the |q qbar> light-cone asymptotic wave function describes the data well for Q^2 ~ 10 (GeV/c)^2 or more.