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A. H. Mueller

Publications and source records attributed to A. H. Mueller.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2017

On the use of a running coupling in the NLO calculation of forward hadron production

We address and solve a puzzle raised by a recent calculation [1] of the cross-section for particle production in proton-nucleus collisions to next-to-leading order: the numerical results show an un- reasonably large dependence upon the choice of a prescription for the QCD running coupling, which spoils the predictive power of the calculation. Specifically, the results obtained with a prescription formulated in the transverse coordinate space differ by one to two orders of magnitude from those obtained with a prescription in momentum space. We show that this discrepancy is an artefact of the interplay between the asymptotic freedom of QCD and the Fourier transform from coordinate space to momentum space. When used in coordinate space, the running coupling can act as a fictitious potential which mimics hard scattering and thus introduces a spurious contribution to the cross-section. We identify a new coordinate-space prescription which avoids this problem and leads to results consistent with those obtained with the momentum-space prescription.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2017

Resumming double non-global logarithms in the evolution of a jet

We consider the Banfi-Marchesini-Smye (BMS) equation which resums non-global energy logarithms in the QCD evolution of the energy lost by a pair of jets via soft radiation at large angles. We identify a new physical regime where, besides the energy logarithms, one has to also resum (anti)collinear logarithms. Such a regime occurs when the jets are highly collimated (boosted) and the relative angles between successive soft gluon emissions are strongly increasing. These anti-collinear emissions can violate the correct time-ordering for time-like cascades and result in large radiative corrections enhanced by double collinear logs, making the BMS evolution unstable beyond leading order. We isolate the first such a correction in a recent calculation of the BMS equation to next-to-leading order by Caron-Huot. To overcome this difficulty, we construct a collinearly-improved version of the leading-order BMS equation which resums the double collinear logarithms to all orders. Our construction is inspired by a recent treatment of the Balitsky-Kovchegov (BK) equation for the high-energy evolution of a space-like wavefunction, where similar time-ordering issues occur. We show that the conformal mapping relating the leading-order BMS and BK equations correctly predicts the physical time-ordering, but it fails to predict the detailed structure of the collinear improvement.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2016

CGC factorization for forward particle production in proton-nucleus collisions at next-to-leading order

Within the Color Glass Condensate effective theory, we reconsider the next-to-leading order (NLO) calculation of the single inclusive particle production at forward rapidities in proton-nucleus collisions at high energy. Focusing on quark production for definiteness, we establish a new factorization scheme, perturbatively correct through NLO, in which there is no `rapidity subtraction'. That is, the NLO correction to the impact factor is not explicitly separated from the high-energy evolution. Our construction exploits the skeleton structure of the (NLO) Balitsky-Kovchegov equation, in which the first step of the evolution is explicitly singled out. The NLO impact factor is included by computing this first emission with the exact kinematics for the emitted gluon, rather than by using the eikonal approximation. This particular calculation has already been presented in the literature [1,2], but the reorganization of the perturbation theory that we propose is new. As compared to the proposal in [1,2], our scheme is free of the fine-tuning inherent in the rapidity subtraction, which might be the origin of the negativity of the NLO cross-section observed in previous studies.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2016

Medium Induced Transverse Momentum Broadening in Hard Processes

Using deep inelastic scattering on a large nucleus as an example, we consider the transverse momentum broadening of partons in hard processes in the presence of medium. We find that one can factorize the vacuum radiation contribution and medium related $P_T$ broadening effects into the Sudakov factor and medium dependent distributions, respectively. Our derivations can be generalized to other hard processes, such as dijet productions, which can be used as a probe to measure the medium $P_T$ broadening effects in heavy ion collisions when Sudakov effects are not overwhelming.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2016

Fluctuations of the multiplicity of produced particles in onium-nucleus collisions

We address the general features of event-by-event fluctuations of the multiplicity of gluons produced in the scattering of a dilute hadron off a large nucleus at high energy in the fragmentation region of the dilute hadron. We relate these fluctuations to the stochasticity of the number of quanta contained in the hadron at the time of the interaction. For simplicity, we address the ideal case in which the hadron is an onium, and investigate different kinematical regimes in rapidity and onium size. We show that at large rapidity, the multiplicity distribution exhibits an exponential tail in the large-multiplicity region, which is qualitatively consistent with the proton-nucleus data. But interestingly enough, the exponential shape is determined by confinement.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2016

Probing Transverse Momentum Broadening in Heavy Ion Collisions

We study the dijet azimuthal de-correlation in relativistic heavy ion collisions as an important probe of the transverse momentum broadening effects of a high energy jet traversing the quark-gluon plasma. We take into account both the soft gluon radiation in vacuum associated with the Sudakov logarithms and the jet P_T-broadening effects in the QCD medium. We find that the Sudakov effects are dominant at the LHC, while the medium effects can play an important role at RHIC energies. This explains why the LHC experiments have not yet observed sizable P_T-broadening effects in the measurement of dijet azimuthal correlations in heavy ion collisions. Future investigations at RHIC will provide a unique opportunity to study the P_T-broadening effects and help to pin down the underlying mechanism for jet energy loss in a hot and dense medium.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2016

Collinearly-improved BK evolution meets the HERA data

In a previous publication, we have established a collinearly-improved version of the Balitsky-Kovchegov (BK) equation, which resums to all orders the radiative corrections enhanced by large double transverse logarithms. Here, we study the relevance of this equation as a tool for phenomenology, by confronting it to the HERA data. To that aim, we first improve the perturbative accuracy of our resummation, by including two classes of single-logarithmic corrections: those generated by the first non-singular terms in the DGLAP splitting functions and those expressing the one-loop running of the QCD coupling. The equation thus obtained includes all the next-to-leading order corrections to the BK equation which are enhanced by (single or double) collinear logarithms. We then use numerical solutions to this equation to fit the HERA data for the electron-proton reduced cross-section at small Bjorken x. We obtain good quality fits for physically acceptable initial conditions. Our best fit, which shows a good stability up to virtualities as large as Q^2=400 GeV^2 for the exchanged photon, uses as an initial condition the running-coupling version of the McLerran-Venugopalan model, with the QCD coupling running according to the smallest dipole prescription.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2016

The collinearly-improved Balitsky-Kovchegov equation

The high-energy evolution in perturbative QCD suffers from a severe lack-of-convergence problem, due to higher order corrections enhanced by double and single transverse logarithms. We resum double logarithms to all orders within the non-linear Balitsky-Kovchegov equation, by taking into account successive soft gluon emissions strongly ordered in lifetime. We further resum single logarithms generated by the first non-singular part of the splitting functions and by the one-loop running of the coupling. The resummed BK equation admits stable solutions, which are used to successfully fit the HERA data at small $x$ for physically acceptable initial conditions and reasonable values of the fit parameters.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2016

Sudakov Resummations in Mueller-Navelet Dijet Production

In high energy hadron-hadron collisions, dijet production with large rapidity separation proposed by Mueller and Navelet, is one of the most interesting processes which can help us to directly access the well-known Balitsky-Fadin-Kuraev-Lipatov evolution dynamics. The objective of this work is to study the Sudakov resummation of Mueller-Navelet jets. Through the one-loop calculation, Sudakov type logarithms are obtained for this process when the produced dijets are almost back-to-back. These results could play an important role in the phenomenological study of dijet correlations with large rapidity separation at the LHC.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2015

The BMS Equation and c\bar{c} Production; A Comparison of the BMS and BK Equations

We introduce two processes where the BMS equation appears in a context quite different from the original context of non-global jet observables. We note the strong similarities of the BMS equation to the BK and FKPP equations and argue that these, essentially identical equations, can be viewed either in terms of the probability, or amplitude, of something not happening or in terms of the nonlinear terms setting unitarity limits. Mostly analytic solutions are given for (i) the probability that no $c\bar{c}$ pairs be produced in a jet decay and (ii) the probability that no-$c\bar{c}$ pairs be produced in a high energy dipole nucleus scattering. Both these processes obey BMS equations, albeit with very different kernels.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2015

Resumming large higher-order corrections in non-linear QCD evolution

Linear and non-linear QCD evolutions at high energy suffer from severe issues related to convergence, due to higher order corrections enhanced by large double and single transverse logarithms. We resum double logarithms to all orders by taking into account successive soft gluon emissions strongly ordered in lifetime. We further resum single logarithms generated by the first non-singular part of the splitting functions and by the one-loop running of the coupling. The resulting collinearly improved BK equation admits stable solutions, which are used to successfully fit the HERA data at small-x for physically acceptable initial conditions and reasonable values of the fit parameters.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2015

Resummation of Large Logarithms in the Rapidity Evolution of Color Dipoles

Perturbative corrections beyond leading-log accuracy to BFKL and BK equations, describing the rapidity evolution of QCD scattering amplitudes at high energy, exhibit strong convergence problems due to radiative corrections enhanced by large single and double transverse logs. We identify explicitly the physical origin of double transverse logs and resum them directly in coordinate space as appropriate for BK equation, in terms of an improved local-in-rapidity evolution kernel. Numerical results show the crucial role of double-logarithmic resummation for BK evolution, which is stabilized and slowed down by roughly a factor of two.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2015

Resumming double logarithms in the QCD evolution of color dipoles

The higher-order perturbative corrections, beyond leading logarithmic accuracy, to the BFKL evolution in QCD at high energy are well known to suffer from a severe lack-of-convergence problem, due to radiative corrections enhanced by double collinear logarithms. Via an explicit calculation of Feynman graphs in light cone (time-ordered) perturbation theory, we show that the corrections enhanced by double logarithms (either energy-collinear, or double collinear) are associated with soft gluon emissions which are strictly ordered in lifetime. These corrections can be resummed to all orders by solving an evolution equation which is non-local in rapidity. This equation can be equivalently rewritten in local form, but with modified kernel and initial conditions, which resum double collinear logs to all orders. We extend this resummation to the next-to-leading order BFKL and BK equations. The first numerical studies of the collinearly-improved BK equation demonstrate the essential role of the resummation in both stabilizing and slowing down the evolution.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2014

Electron Ion Collider: The Next QCD Frontier - Understanding the glue that binds us all

This White Paper presents the science case of an Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), focused on the structure and interactions of gluon-dominated matter, with the intent to articulate it to the broader nuclear science community. It was commissioned by the managements of Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) and Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) with the objective of presenting a summary of scientific opportunities and goals of the EIC as a follow-up to the 2007 NSAC Long Range plan. This document is a culmination of a community-wide effort in nuclear science following a series of workshops on EIC physics and, in particular, the focused ten-week program on "Gluons and quark sea at high energies" at the Institute for Nuclear Theory in Fall 2010. It contains a brief description of a few golden physics measurements along with accelerator and detector concepts required to achieve them, and it benefited from inputs from the users' communities of BNL and JLab. This White Paper offers the promise to propel the QCD science program in the U.S., established with the CEBAF accelerator at JLab and the RHIC collider at BNL, to the next QCD frontier.

nucl-ex↗
arXiv2014

Phenomenological picture of fluctuations in branching random walks

We propose a picture of the fluctuations in branching random walks, which leads to predictions for the distribution of a random variable that characterizes the position of the bulk of the particles. We also interpret the $1/\sqrt{t}$ correction to the average position of the rightmost particle of a branching random walk for large times $t\gg 1$, computed by Ebert and Van Saarloos, as fluctuations on top of the mean-field approximation of this process with a Brunet-Derrida cutoff at the tip that simulates discreteness. Our analytical formulas successfully compare to numerical simulations of a particular model of branching random walk.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗
arXiv2014

On parton number fluctuations at various stages of the rapidity evolution

Starting with the interpretation of parton evolution with rapidity as a branching-diffusion process, we describe the different kinds of fluctuations of the density of partons which affect the properties of QCD scattering amplitudes at moderately high energies. We then derive some of these properties as direct consequences of the stochastic picture. We get new results on the expression of the saturation scale of a large nucleus, and a modified geometric scaling valid at intermediate rapidities for dipole-dipole scattering.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2014

The Boltzmann Equation in Classical Yang-Mills Theory

We give a detailed derivation of the Boltzmann equation, and in particular its collision integral, in classical field theory. We first carry this out in a scalar theory with both cubic and quartic interactions and subsequently in a Yang-Mills theory. Our method is not relied on a doubling of the fields, rather it is based on a diagrammatic approach representing the classical solution to the problem.

hep-ph↗