The Photon Wave Function in Non-forward Diffractive Scattering with Non-vanishing Quark Masses

TL;DR

This paper develops a detailed model of the photon wave function incorporating quark masses, enabling analysis of non-forward diffractive scattering with non-zero momentum transfer in high-energy photon-proton interactions.

Contribution

It introduces an explicit helicity-based photon wave function for massive quarks applicable in both momentum and configuration space, extending previous models to non-zero momentum transfer scenarios.

Findings

Validates factorization in non-zero momentum transfer diffractive scattering

Provides a comprehensive photon wave function model for massive quarks

Enables analysis of photon-proton interactions in the Regge limit

Abstract

The light-cone Photon wave function in explicit helicity states, valid for massive quarks and in both momentum and configuration space, is presented by considering the leading order photon-proton hard scattering, i.e., the splitting quark pair scatters with the proton in the Regge limit. Further we apply it to the diffractive scattering at nonzero momentum transfer and reach a similar factorization as in the case of zero momentum transfer.