Transverse Spin in QCD. I. Canonical Structure

TL;DR

This paper develops a framework for defining and analyzing transverse spin operators in QCD using light-front quantization, providing new insights into the relativistic spin structure of nucleons.

Contribution

It introduces gauge-invariant transverse spin operators in QCD within light-front quantization, addressing the relativistic spin problem in arbitrary reference frames.

Findings

Derived explicit expressions for transverse spin operators ${\

,

J}^i$ in QCD; Showed how to decompose these operators into gauge-invariant parts; Discussed implications for nucleon spin structure.

Abstract

In this work we initiate a systematic investigation of the spin of a composite system in an arbitrary reference frame in QCD. After a brief review of the difficulties one encounters in equal-time quantization, we turn to light-front quantization. We show that, in spite of the complexities, light-front field theory offers a unique opportunity to address the issue of relativistic spin operators in an arbitrary reference frame since boost is kinematical in this formulation. Utilizing this symmetry, we show how to introduce transverse spin operators for massless particles in an arbitrary reference frame in analogy with those for massive particles. Starting from the manifestly gauge invariant, symmetric energy momentum tensor in QCD, we derive expressions for the interaction dependent transverse spin operators ${\cal J}^i$ ($i=1,2$) which are responsible for the helicity flip of the nucleon in light-front quantization. In order to construct ${\cal J}^i$, first we derive expressions for the transverse rotation operators $F^i$. In the gauge $A^+=0$, we eliminate the constrained variables. In the completely gauge fixed sector, in terms of the dynamical variables, we show that one can decompose ${\cal J}^i= {\cal J}^i_I + {\cal J}^i_{II} + {\cal J}^i_{III}$ where only ${\cal J}^i_{I}$ has explicit coordinate ($x^-, x^i$) dependence in its integrand. The operators ${\cal J}^i_{II}$ and ${\cal J}^i_{III}$ arise from the fermionic and bosonic parts respectively of the gauge invariant energy momentum tensor. We discuss the implications of our results.