Proton Structure in Transverse Space and the Effective Cross Section

TL;DR

This paper discusses how measurements of the effective cross section in double parton collisions reveal the transverse spatial structure of the proton and suggest significant correlation effects in its parton distribution.

Contribution

It introduces a possible source of correlations in proton structure that could explain the smaller-than-expected effective cross section values.

Findings

Measured $\sigma_{eff}$ is smaller than naive expectations.

Correlation effects in parton distributions are significant.

Proposes a source of correlations affecting proton transverse structure.

Abstract

The observation of double parton collisions by CDF has provided the first direct information on the structure of the proton in transverse space. The actual quantity which has been measured is the `effective cross section' $\sigma_{eff}$, which is related to the transverse size of the region where hard interactions are localized. The actual value which has been measured is sizably smaller than naively expected and it is an indication of important correlation effects in the many-body parton distribution of the proton. We discuss the problem pointing out a possible source of correlations in the proton structure, which could have a significant effect on the value of $\sigma_{eff}$.