arXiv subjects

B. Pasquini

Publications and source records attributed to B. Pasquini.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Subtracted Dispersion Relations for Virtual Compton Scattering off the Proton

We present a once-subtracted dispersion relation (DR) formalism for the virtual Compton scattering (VCS) process from threshold up to the $\Delta(1232)$ energy region. The formalism aims at extracting the nucleon's electric and magnetic generalized polarizabilities from the $e^- p \to e^- \gamma p$ process, in view of the precision goals of the present and near future experiments at Jefferson Lab. The present work improves upon the existing unsubtracted DR formalism in several ways. The required $s$- and $t$-channel discontinuities in the subtracted dispersion integrals are obtained in a largely data-driven manner in this energy region. The $s$-channel dispersive integrals are reconstructed from $\gamma^\ast p \to \pi N \to \gamma p$ using pion photo- and electro-production data, while the $t$-channel dispersion integrals are evaluated from $\gamma^\ast \gamma \to \pi \pi \to N \bar N$ using recent dispersive analyses of both the $\gamma^\ast \gamma \to \pi \pi$ and $\pi \pi \to N \bar N$ processes. We compare our results to VCS data and show the sensitivity of the observables to the nucleon's scalar generalized polarizabilities, which enter the present formalism as subtraction constants.

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arXiv2026

Connecting baryon light-front wave functions to quasi-transverse-momentum-dependent correlators in lattice QCD

Within light-front quantization, hadrons can be represented on a Fock-space basis of configurations of elementary partons. The coefficients of the expansion are called light-front wave functions (LFWFs), and encode all the dynamical degrees of freedom. We show how to extract the LFWFs of baryons, such as the proton, from equal-time correlators suitable for Lattice QCD simulations. Using an operator product expansion, we prove the factorization of the relevant correlator in the three-quark color-singlet LFWF, a residual lattice factor, and a soft factor that systematically subtracts the additional divergences arising from the factorization. We verify up to next-to-leading order the independent renormalizability of the LFWF, and we derive the evolution equations that govern its scale dependence.

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arXiv2025

Parton Distribution Functions and their Generalizations

This article is an introduction to parton distribution functions and their generalizations which describe the quark and gluon structure of hadrons, and can be measured in various high-energy scattering processes. We provide the theoretical background, highlight both historical and recent developments, explain the connections between the different functions, and expose in which processes these functions can be accessed and what we can learn from them about hadron structure.

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arXiv2025

LHCspin: a Polarized Gas Target for LHC

The goal of the LHCspin project is to develop innovative solutions for measuring the 3D structure of nucleons in high-energy polarized fixed-target collisions at LHC, exploring new processes and exploiting new probes in a unique, previously unexplored, kinematic regime. A precise multi-dimensional description of the hadron structure has, in fact, the potential to deepen our understanding of the strong interactions and to provide a much more precise framework for measuring both Standard Model and Beyond Standard Model observables. This ambitious task poses its basis on the recent experience with the successful installation and operation of the SMOG2 unpolarized gas target in front of the LHCb spectrometer. Besides allowing for interesting physics studies ranging from astrophysics to heavy-ion physics, SMOG2 provides an ideal benchmark for studying beam-target dynamics at the LHC and demonstrates the feasibility of simultaneous operation with beam-beam collisions. With the installation of the proposed polarized target system, LHCb will become the first experiment to simultaneously collect data from unpolarized beam-beam collisions at $\sqrt{s}$=14 TeV and polarized and unpolarized beam-target collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}\sim$100 GeV. LHCspin has the potential to open new frontiers in physics by exploiting the capabilities of the world's most powerful collider and one of the most advanced spectrometers. This document also highlights the need to perform an R\&D campaign and the commissioning of the apparatus at the LHC Interaction Region 4 during the Run 4, before its final installation in LHCb. This opportunity could also allow to undertake preliminary physics measurements with unprecedented conditions.

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arXiv2024

Pion electroproduction measurements in the nucleon resonance region

We report new pion electroproduction measurements in the $Δ(1232)$ resonance, utilizing the SHMS - HMS magnetic spectrometers of Hall C at Jefferson Lab. The data focus on a region that exhibits a strong and rapidly changing interplay of the mesonic cloud and quark-gluon dynamics in the nucleon. The results are in reasonable agreement with models that employ pion cloud effects and chiral effective field theory calculations, but at the same time they suggest that an improvement is required to the theoretical calculations and provide valuable input that will allow their refinements. The data illustrate the potential of the magnetic spectrometers setup in Hall C towards the study the $Δ(1232)$ resonance. These first reported results will be followed by a series of measurements in Hall C, that will expand the studies of the $Δ(1232)$ resonance offering a high precision insight within a wide kinematic range from low to high momentum transfers.

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arXiv2024

A Light-Front Model for the Transition Distribution Amplitudes for Backward Timelike Compton Scattering

To access information on the internal structure of the nucleon, data from a variety of scattering experiments can be analyzed, in regimes where the information factorizes from an otherwise known scattering amplitude. A recent development, promising new insight, is the study of exclusive reactions in the backward kinematical region, where the information can be encoded in Transition Distribution Amplitudes (TDAs). We model the photon-to-nucleon TDAs, entering the factorized description of backward Timelike Compton Scattering, using techniques of light-front dynamics to integrate information from a quark model for the photon and the nucleon. We include the results of numerical predictions that could inform further experiments at Jefferson Lab and the future Electron--Ion Collider.

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arXiv2023

Beam Charge Asymmetries for Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering on the Proton at CLAS12

The parameterization of the nucleon structure through Generalized Parton Distributions (GPDs) shed a new light on the nucleon internal dynamics. For its direct interpretation, Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering (DVCS) is the golden channel for GPDs investigation. The DVCS process interferes with the Bethe-Heitler (BH) mechanism to constitute the leading order amplitude of the $eN \to eNγ$ process. The study of the $epγ$ reaction with polarized positron and electron beams gives a complete set of unique observables to unravel the different contributions to the $ep γ$ cross section. This separates the different reaction amplitudes, providing a direct access to their real and imaginary parts which procures crucial constraints on the model dependences and associated systematic uncertainties on GPDs extraction. The real part of the BH-DVCS interference amplitude is particularly sensitive to the $D$-term which parameterizes the Gravitational Form Factors of the nucleon. The separation of the imaginary parts of the interference and DVCS amplitudes provides insights on possible higher-twist effects. We propose to measure the unpolarized and polarized Beam Charge Asymmetries (BCAs) of the $\vec{e}^{\pm}p \to e^{\pm}p γ$ process on an unpolarized hydrogen target with {\tt CLAS12}, using polarized positron and electron beams at 10.6 GeV. The azimuthal and $t$-dependences of the unpolarized and polarized BCAs will be measured over a large $(x_B,Q^2)$ phase space using a 100 day run with a luminosity of 0.66$\times 10^{35}$cm$^{-2}\cdot$s$^{-1}$.

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arXiv2022

Measured proton electromagnetic structure deviates from theoretical predictions

The visible world is founded on the proton, the only composite building block of matter that is stable in nature. Consequently, understanding the formation of matter relies on explaining the dynamics and the properties of the proton's bound state.A fundamental property of the proton involves the response of the system to an external electromagnetic field. It is characterized by the electromagnetic polarizabilities that describe how easily the charge and magnetization distributions inside the system are distorted by the electromagnetic field. Moreover, the generalized polarizabilities map out the resulting deformation of the densities in a proton subject to an electromagnetic field. They disclose essential information about the underlying system dynamics and provide a key for decoding the proton structure in terms of the theory of the strong interaction that binds its elementary quark and gluon constituents. Of particular interest is a puzzle in the electric generalized polarizability of the proton that remains unresolved for two decades. Here we report measurements of the proton's electromagnetic generalized polarizabilities at low four-momentum transfer squared. We show evidence of an anomaly to the behaviour of the proton's electric generalized polarizability that contradicts the predictions of nuclear theory and derive its signature in the spatial distribution of the induced polarization in the proton. The reported measurements suggest the presence of a new, not-yet-understood dynamical mechanism in the proton and present notable challenges to the nuclear theory.

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arXiv2022

First concurrent extraction of the leading-order scalar and spin proton polarizabilities

We performed the first simultaneous extraction of the six leading-order proton polarizabilities. We reached this milestone thanks to both new high-quality experimental data and an innovative bootstrap-base fitting method. These new results provide a self-consistent and fundamental benchmark for all future theoretical and experimental polarizability estimates.

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arXiv2021

Virtual Compton scattering at low energies with a positron beam

The Virtual Compton scattering (VCS) process at low energies explores the electromagnetic structure of the proton in terms of generalized polarizabilities (GPs). In the one-photon exchange approximation, VCS can be accessed with exclusive photon production reactions with electron or positron beams. The extraction of the GPs from VCS with electron beam has seen substantial progress over the past two decades. Nonetheless, a consistent picture of the GPs from low to higher scales demands further investigations. Complementary measurements with positron beams offer an unique possibility, and we present an impact study of such experimental program.

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arXiv2021

The Drell-Yan process with pions and polarized nucleons

The Drell-Yan process provides important information on the internal structure of hadrons including transverse momentum dependent parton distribution functions (TMDs). In this work we present calculations for all leading twist structure functions describing the pion induced Drell-Yan process. The non-perturbative input for the TMDs is taken from the light-front constituent quark model, the spectator model, and available parametrizations of TMDs extracted from the experimental data. TMD evolution is implemented at Next-to-Leading Logarithmic precision for the first time for all asymmetries. Our results are compatible with the first experimental information, help to interpret the data from ongoing experiments, and will allow one to quantitatively assess the models in future when more precise data will become available.

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arXiv2020

International Workshop on Next Generation Gamma-Ray Source

A workshop on The Next Generation Gamma-Ray Sources sponsored by the Office of Nuclear Physics at the Department of Energy, was held November 17--19, 2016 in Bethesda, Maryland. The goals of the workshop were to identify basic and applied research opportunities at the frontiers of nuclear physics that would be made possible by the beam capabilities of an advanced laser Compton beam facility. To anchor the scientific vision to realistically achievable beam specifications using proven technologies, the workshop brought together experts in the fields of electron accelerators, lasers, and optics to examine the technical options for achieving the beam specifications required by the most compelling parts of the proposed research programs. An international assembly of participants included current and prospective $γ$-ray beam users, accelerator and light-source physicists, and federal agency program managers. Sessions were organized to foster interactions between the beam users and facility developers, allowing for information sharing and mutual feedback between the two groups. The workshop findings and recommendations are summarized in this whitepaper.

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arXiv2020

Mass sum rules of the electron in quantum electrodynamics

Different decompositions of the nucleon mass, in terms of the masses and energies of the underlying constituents, have been proposed in the literature. We explore the corresponding sum rules in quantum electrodynamics for an electron at one-loop order in perturbation theory. To this end we compute the form factors of the energy-momentum tensor, by paying particular attention to the renormalization of ultraviolet divergences, operator mixing and scheme dependence. We clarify the expressions of all the proposed sum rules in the electron rest frame in terms of renormalized operators. Furthermore, we consider the same sum rules in a moving frame, where they become energy decompositions. Finally, we discuss some implications of our study on the mass sum rules for the nucleon.

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arXiv2020

Virtual Compton Scattering and Nucleon Generalized Polarizabilities

This review gives an update on virtual Compton scattering (VCS) off the nucleon, $γ^* N \to N γ$, in the low-energy regime. We recall the theoretical formalism related to the generalized polarizabilities (GPs) and model predictions for these observables. We present the GP extraction methods that are used in the experiments: the approach based on the low-energy theorem for VCS and the formalism of Dispersion Relations. We then review the experimental results, with a focus on the progress brought by recent experimental data on proton generalized polarizabilities, and we conclude by some perspectives in the field of VCS at low energy.

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arXiv2019

Revisiting model relations between T-odd transverse-momentum dependent parton distributions and generalized parton distributions

We revisit the connection between generalized parton distributions in impact parameter space and T-odd effects in single spin asymmetries of the semi-inclusive deep inelastic process. We show that nontrivial relations can be established only under very specific conditions, typically realized only in models that describe hadrons as two-body bound systems and involving a helicity-conserving coupling between the gauge boson and the spectator system. Examples of these models are the the scalar-diquark spectator model or the quark-target model for the nucleon, and relativistic models for the pion at the lowest order in the Fock-space expansion.

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arXiv2019

Proton scalar dipole polarizabilities from real Compton scattering data, using fixed-t subtracted dispersion relations and the bootstrap method

We perform a fit of the real Compton scattering (RCS) data below pion-production threshold to extract the electric ($α_{E1}$) and magnetic ($β_{M1}$) static scalar dipole polarizabilities of the proton, using fixed-$t$ subtracted dispersion relations and a bootstrap-based fitting technique. The bootstrap method provides a convenient tool to include the effects of the systematic errors on the best values of $α_{E1}$ and $β_{M1}$ and to propagate the statistical errors of the model parameters fixed by other measurements. We also implement various statistical tests to investigate the consistency of the available RCS data sets below pion-production threshold and we conclude that there are not strong motivations to exclude any data point from the global set. Our analysis yields $α_{E1} = (12.03^{+0.48}_{-0.54})\times 10^{-4} \text{fm}^3$ and $β_{M1} = (1.77^{+0.52}_{-0.54})\times 10^{-4} \text{fm}^3$, with p-value $= 12\%$.

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arXiv2019

Virtual Compton Scattering measurements in the nucleon resonance region

We report on new measurements of the electric Generalized Polarizability (GP) of the proton $α_E$ in a kinematic region where a puzzling dependence on momentum transfer has been observed, and we have found that $α_E = (5.3 \pm 0.6_{stat} \pm 1.3_{sys})~10^{-4} fm^3$ at $Q^2=0.20~(GeV/c)^2$. The new measurements, when considered along with the rest of the world data, suggest that $α_E$ can be described by either a local plateau or by an enhancement in the region $Q^2=0.20~(GeV/c)^2$ to $0.33~(GeV/c)^2$. The experiment also provides the first measurement of the Coulomb quadrupole amplitude in the $N \rightarrow Δ$ transition through the exploration of the $p(e,e'p)γ$ reaction. The new measurement gives $CMR = (-4.4 \pm 0.8_{stat} \pm 0.6_{sys})~\%$ at $Q^2=0.20~(GeV/c)^2$ and is consistent with the results from the pion electroproduction world data. It has been obtained using a completely different extraction method, and therefore represents a strong validation test of the world data model uncertainties.

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arXiv2019

The LHCSpin Project

LHCSpin aims at installing a polarized gas target in front of the LHCb spectrometer, bringing, for the first time, polarized physics to the LHC. The project will benefit from the experience achieved with the installation of an unpolarized gas target at LHCb during the LHC Long Shutdown 2. LHCb will then become the first experiment simultaneously running in collider and fixed-target mode with polarized targets, opening a whole new range of explorations to its exceptional spectrometer. LHCSpin will offer a unique opportunity to probe polarized quark and gluon parton distributions in nucleons and nuclei, especially at high $x$ and intermediate $Q^2$, where experimental data are still largely missing. Beside standard collinear parton distribution functions (PDFs), LHCSpin will make it possible to study multidimensional polarized parton distributions that depend also on parton transverse momentum. The study of the multidimensional partonic structure of the nucleon, particularly including polarization effects, can test our knowledge of QCD at an unprecedented level of sophistication, both in the perturbative and nonperturbative regime. At the same time, an accurate knowledge of hadron structure is necessary for precision measurements of Standard Model (SM) observables and discovery of physics beyond the SM. Due to the intricate nature of the strong interaction, it is indispensable to perform the widest possible suite of experimental measurements. It will be ideal to have two new projects complementing each other: a new facility for polarized electron-proton collisions and a new facility for polarized proton-proton collisions. LHCSpin stands out at the moment as the most promising candidate for the second type of project, going beyond the kinematic coverage and the accuracy of the existent experiments, especially on the heavy-quark sector.

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