The role of the axial anomaly in measuring spin-dependent parton distributions

R. D. Carlitz; J. C. Collins; A. H. Mueller

doi:10.1016/0370-2693(88)91474-8

The role of the axial anomaly in measuring spin-dependent parton distributions

R. D. Carlitz, J. C. Collins, A. H. Mueller

Physics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

440 Scopus citations

Abstract

It is shown that forward matrix elements of j₅^μ, the flavor singlet axial vector current, do not merely measure the helicity carried by quarks and antiquarks but also include a spin-dependent gluonic component due to the anomaly. In perturbation theory the exact value of the gluonic component depends on the infrared regulator, and we argue that computing off-shell matrix elements with zero-mass quarks gives the proper method of regulation to exhibit the chiral properties of the theory. We suggest measuring two-jet production in deep inelastic scattering off polarized targets as a means of determining the spin-dependent gluonic component of j₅^μ.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	229-236
Number of pages	8
Journal	Physics Letters B
Volume	214
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/0370-2693(88)91474-8
State	Published - Nov 17 1988

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Nuclear and High Energy Physics

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10.1016/0370-2693(88)91474-8

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title = "The role of the axial anomaly in measuring spin-dependent parton distributions",

abstract = "It is shown that forward matrix elements of j5μ, the flavor singlet axial vector current, do not merely measure the helicity carried by quarks and antiquarks but also include a spin-dependent gluonic component due to the anomaly. In perturbation theory the exact value of the gluonic component depends on the infrared regulator, and we argue that computing off-shell matrix elements with zero-mass quarks gives the proper method of regulation to exhibit the chiral properties of the theory. We suggest measuring two-jet production in deep inelastic scattering off polarized targets as a means of determining the spin-dependent gluonic component of j5μ.",

author = "Carlitz, {R. D.} and Collins, {J. C.} and Mueller, {A. H.}",

note = "Funding Information: the Institute for Theoretical Physics in Santa Barbara, which is supported by the NSF under Grant No. PHY82-17853, supplemented by funds from NASA and the DOE. J.C.C and A.H.M are supported with further funding from the DOE. A portion of this work was completed while R.D.C and J.C.C were visitors at the University of Washington. We are grateful to David Boulware for the hospitality of the Particle Theory Group during our visit there. Finally we wish to thank Dr. A. Radyushkin for giving us a copy of the paper by Efremov and Teryaev, which paper first stimulated our interest in this problem.",

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doi = "10.1016/0370-2693(88)91474-8",

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AU - Carlitz, R. D.

AU - Collins, J. C.

AU - Mueller, A. H.

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PY - 1988/11/17

Y1 - 1988/11/17

N2 - It is shown that forward matrix elements of j5μ, the flavor singlet axial vector current, do not merely measure the helicity carried by quarks and antiquarks but also include a spin-dependent gluonic component due to the anomaly. In perturbation theory the exact value of the gluonic component depends on the infrared regulator, and we argue that computing off-shell matrix elements with zero-mass quarks gives the proper method of regulation to exhibit the chiral properties of the theory. We suggest measuring two-jet production in deep inelastic scattering off polarized targets as a means of determining the spin-dependent gluonic component of j5μ.

AB - It is shown that forward matrix elements of j5μ, the flavor singlet axial vector current, do not merely measure the helicity carried by quarks and antiquarks but also include a spin-dependent gluonic component due to the anomaly. In perturbation theory the exact value of the gluonic component depends on the infrared regulator, and we argue that computing off-shell matrix elements with zero-mass quarks gives the proper method of regulation to exhibit the chiral properties of the theory. We suggest measuring two-jet production in deep inelastic scattering off polarized targets as a means of determining the spin-dependent gluonic component of j5μ.

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The role of the axial anomaly in measuring spin-dependent parton distributions

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