arXiv subjects

Hongxi Xing

Publications and source records attributed to Hongxi Xing.

89 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Spin asymmetries for vector boson production in polarized p+p collisions

We study the cross section for vector boson ($W^{\pm}/Z^0/γ^*$) production in polarized nucleon-nucleon collisions for low transverse momentum of the observed vector boson. For the case where one measures the transverse momentum and azimuthal angle of the vector bosons, we present the cross sections and the associated spin asymmetries in terms of transverse momentum dependent parton distribution functions (TMDs) at tree level within the TMD factorization formalism. To assess the feasibility of experimental measurements, we estimate the spin asymmetries for $W^{\pm}/Z^0$ boson production in polarized proton-proton collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) by using current knowledge of the relevant TMDs. We find that some of these asymmetries can be sizable if the suppression effect from TMD evolution is not too strong. The $W$ program at RHIC can, thus, test and constrain spin theory by providing unique information on the universality properties of TMDs, TMD evolution, and the nucleon structure. For example, the single transverse spin asymmetries could be used to probe the well-known Sivers function $f_{1T}^{\perp q}$, as well as the transversal helicity distribution $g_{1T}^{q}$ via the parity-violating nature of $W$ production.

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arXiv2015

A Study of Quasi-parton Distribution Functions in the Diquark Spectator Model

To facilitate lattice QCD calculations of nucleon structute, a set of quasi-parton distributions were recently introduced. These quasi-PDFs were shown to reduce to standard PDFs when the nucleon is boosted to high energies, $P_z\rightarrow \infty$. Since taking such limit is not feasible in lattice simulations, it is essential to provide guidance for what values of $P_z$ the quasi-PDFs are good approximations of standard PDFs. Within the framework of the spectator diquark model, we evaluate both the up and down quarks' quasi-PDFs and standard PDFs for all leading-twist distributions (unpolarized distribution $f_1$, helicity distribution $g_1$, and transversity distribution $h_1$). We find that, for intermediate parton momentum fractions $x$, quasi-PDFs are good approximations to standard PDFs (within $20-30\%$) when $P_z\gtrsim 1.5-2$ GeV. On the other hand, for large $x\sim 1$ much larger $P_z > 4$ GeV is necessary to obtain a satisfactory agreement between the two sets. We further find that the Soffer positivity bound does not hold in general for quasi-PDFs.

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arXiv2015

Quenching of inclusive and tagged b-jets at the LHC

We present theoretical predictions for the nuclear-induced attenuation of the differential cross sections for inclusive and tagged b-jet production in heavy ion collisions at the LHC. We find that for inclusive b-jet production at high transverse momentum the mass effects are negligible, and that the attenuation is comparable to the one observed for light jets. On the other hand, for isolated-photon and B-meson-tagged b-jets the sample of events with heavy quarks produced at the early stages of the collision is greatly enhanced. Thus, these tagged b-jet final-states have a much more direct connection to the physics of b-quark energy loss. We present theoretical predictions for the quenching of such tagged b-jet events at the LHC and the QGP-induced modification of the related momentum imbalance and asymmetry. We demonstrate that these tagged processes can be used to accurately study the physics of heavy quark production and propagation in dense QCD matter.

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arXiv2015

Quasi-parton distribution functions: a study in the diquark spectator model

A set of quasi-parton distribution functions (quasi-PDFs) have been recently proposed by Ji. Defined as the matrix elements of equal-time spatial correlations, they can be computed on the lattice and should reduce to the standard PDFs when the proton momentum $P_z$ is very large. Since taking the $P_z\to \infty$ limit is not feasible in lattice simulations, it is essential to provide guidance for what values of $P_z$ the quasi-PDFs are good approximations of standard PDFs. Within the framework of the spectator diquark model, we evaluate both the up and down quarks' quasi-PDFs and standard PDFs for all leading-twist distributions (unpolarized distribution $f_1$, helicity distribution $g_1$, and transversity distribution $h_1$). We find that, for intermediate parton momentum fractions $x$, quasi-PDFs are good approximations to standard PDFs (within $20-30%$) when $P_z\gtrsim 1.5-2$ GeV. On the other hand, for large $x\sim 1$ much larger $P_z > 4$ GeV is necessary to obtain a satisfactory agreement between the two sets. We further test the Soffer positivity bound, and find that it does not hold in general for quasi-PDFs.

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arXiv2014

Multiple scattering effects on heavy meson production in p+A collisions at backward rapidity

We study the incoherent multiple scattering effects on heavy meson production in the backward rapidity region of p+A collisions within the generalized high-twist factorization formalism. We calculate explicitly the double scattering contributions to the heavy meson differential cross sections by taking into account both initial-state and final-state interactions, and find that these corrections are positive. We further evaluate the nuclear modification factor for muons that come form the semi-leptonic decays of heavy flavor mesons. Phenomenological applications in d+Au collisions at a center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV at RHIC and in p+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s}=5.02$ TeV at the LHC are presented. We find that incoherent multiple scattering can describe rather well the observed nuclear enhancement in the intermediate $p_T$ region for such reactions.

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arXiv2014

Transverse momentum broadening at NLO and QCD evolution of $\hat q$

Within the framework of a high-twist approach, we show the first complete next-to-leading order calculation of transverse momentum broadening in semi-inclusive deeply inelastic $e+A$ scattering and Drell-Yan dilepton production in $p+A$ collisions. We demonstrate at one-loop level how QCD factorization holds for multiple scattering in nuclear medium, and the university of the associated quark-gluon correlation function. Our calculation also identifies QCD evolution equation for the quark-gluon correlation function, which determines the QCD factorization scale and energy dependence of jet transport parameter $\hat q$.

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arXiv2014

Next-to-leading order forward hadron production in the small-$x$ regime: rapidity factorization

Single inclusive hadron production at forward rapidity in high energy p+A collisions is an important probe of the high gluon density regime of QCD and the associated small-$x$ formalism. We revisit an earlier one-loop calculation to illustrate the significance of the "rapidity factorization" approach in this regime. Such factorization separates the very small-$x$ unintegrated gluon density evolution and leads to a new correction term to the physical cross section at one-loop level. Importantly, this rapidity factorization formalism remedies the previous unphysical negative next-to-leading order contribution to the cross section. It is much more stable with respect to "rapidity" variation when compared to the leading-order calculation and provides improved agreement between theory and experiment in the forward rapidity region.

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arXiv2014

Next-to-Leading QCD Factorization for Semi-Inclusive Deep Inelastic Scattering at Twist-4

Within the framework of a high-twist approach, we calculate the next-to-leading order (NLO) perturbative QCD corrections to the transverse momentum broadening in semi-inclusive hadron production in deeply inelastic $e+A$ collisions, as well as lepton pair production in $p+A$ collisions. With explicit calculations of both real and virtual contributions, we verify, for the first time, the factorization theorem at twist 4 in NLO for the nuclear-enhanced transverse momentum weighted differential cross section and demonstrate the universality of the associated twist-4 quark-gluon correlation function. We also identify the QCD evolution equation for the twist-4 quark-gluon correlation function in a large nucleus, which can be solved to determine the scale dependence of the jet transport parameter in the study of jet quenching.

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arXiv2014

An operator definition and derivation of collisional energy and momentum loss in relativistic plasmas

We present an operator definition of the collisional energy and momentum loss suffered by an energetic charged particle in the presence of a medium. Our approach uses the energy-momentum tensor of the medium to evaluate the energy and momentum transfer rates. We apply this formalism to an energetic lepton or quark propagating in thermal electron-positron or quark-gluon plasmas, respectively. By using two different approaches to describe the energetic charged particle, an external current approach and a diagrammatic approach, we show explicitly that the operator method reproduces the known results for collisional energy loss from the scattering rate formalism. We further use our results to evaluate the collisional energy and momentum loss for the cases of heavy quark propagation through a quark-gluon plasma and energetic muon propagation in an electron-positron plasma produced in a high-intensity laser field.

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arXiv2013

Multiple scattering effects on inclusive particle production in the large-x regime

We study the multiple scattering effects on inclusive particle production in p+A and $γ$+A collisions. Specifically, we concentrate on the region where the parton momentum fraction in the nucleus $x\sim {\cal O}(1)$ and incoherent multiple interactions are relevant. By taking into account both initial-state and final-state double scattering, we derive the nuclear size-enhanced power corrections to the differential cross section for single inclusive hadron production in p+A and $γ$+A reactions, and for prompt photon production in p+A reactions. We find that the final result can be written in a simple compact form in terms of four-parton correlation functions, in which the second-derivative, first-derivative and non-derivative terms of the correlation distributions share the same hard-scattering functions. We expect our result to be especially relevant for understanding the nuclear modification of particle production in the backward rapidity regions in p+A and e+A collisions.

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arXiv2012

Transverse momentum-weighted Sivers asymmetry in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering at next-to-leading order

We study the next-to-leading order perturbative QCD corrections to the transverse momentum-weighted Sivers asymmetry in semi-inclusive hadron production in lepton-proton deep inelastic scattering. The corresponding differential cross section is evaluated as a convolution of a twist-three quark-gluon correlation function, often referred to as Qiu-Sterman function, the usual unpolarized fragmentation function, and a hard coefficient function. By studying the collinear divergence structure, we identify the evolution kernel for the Qiu-Sterman function. The hard coefficient function, which is finite and free of any divergence, is evaluated at one-loop order.

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arXiv2012

Transverse momentum imbalance of back-to-back particle production in p+A and e+A collisions

We study the nuclear enhancement of the transverse momentum imbalance for back-to-back particle production in both p+A and e+A collisions. Specifically, we present results for photon+jet and photon+hadron production in p+A collisions, di-jet and di-hadron production in e+A collisions, and heavy-quark and heavy-meson pair production in both p+A and e+A collisions. We evaluate the effect of both initial-state and final-state multiple scattering, which determine the strength of the nuclear-induced transverse momentum imbalance in these processes. We give theoretical predictions for the experimentally relevant kinematic regions in d+Au collisions at RHIC, p+Pb collisions at LHC and e+A collisions at the future EIC and LHeC.

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arXiv2012

Parton energy loss in cold nuclei

Within the generalized high-twist factorization formalism, we express the contribution from multiple parton scattering and induced gluon radiation to the DY dilepton spectra in terms of nuclear modified effective beam quark distribution function. We show that beam quark energy loss is characterized by jet transport parameter $\hat{q}$, which is related to the local gluon density of the medium. Using the value of $\hat{q}$ determined from the deeply inelastic scattering (DIS) data, we evaluate the nuclear modification factor in Drell-Yan process in p+A collisions. Effects of parton energy loss in the DY spectra are found negligible in the Fermilab experimental data at $E_{\rm lab}=800$ GeV relative to parton shadowing while the predicted suppression of DY spectra are significant at $E_{\rm lab}=120$ GeV.

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arXiv2012

Nuclear modification of high transverse momentum particle production in p+A collisions at RHIC and LHC

We present results and predictions for the nuclear modification of the differential cross sections for inclusive light hadron and prompt photon production in minimum bias d+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 200$ GeV and minimum bias p+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 5$ TeV at RHIC and LHC, respectively. Our calculations combine the leading order perturbative QCD formalism with cold nuclear matter effects that arise from the elastic, inelastic and coherent multiple scattering of partons in large nuclei. We find that a theoretical approach that includes the isospin effect, Cronin effect, cold nuclear matter energy loss and dynamical shadowing can describe the RHIC d+Au data rather well. The LHC p+Pb predictions will soon be confronted by new experimental results to help clarify the magnitude and origin of cold nuclear matter effects and facilitate precision dense QCD matter tomography.

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arXiv2011

Dihadron momentum imbalance and correlations in d+Au collisions

We calculate in perturbative QCD the transverse momentum imbalance of dijet and dihadron production in high energy p+A (d+A) collisions. We evaluate the effect of both initial- and final-state multiple scattering, which determines the strength of this transverse momentum imbalance. Combining this new result with the suppression of the cross section in d+Au collisions, which arises from cold nuclear matter energy loss and coherent power corrections, we are able to describe the dihadron correlations measured by both PHENIX and STAR collaborations at RHIC, including mid-mid, mid-forward, and forward-forward rapidity hadron pairs.

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arXiv2011

Parton Energy Loss and Modified Beam Quark Distribution Functions in Drell-Yan Process in p+A Collisions

Within the framework of generalized collinear factorization in perturbative QCD (pQCD), we study the effect of initial multiple parton scattering and induced parton energy loss in Drell-Yan (DY) process in proton-nucleus collisions. We express the contribution from multiple parton scattering and induced gluon radiation to the DY dilepton spectra in terms of nuclear modified effective beam quark distribution functions. The modification depends on the quark transport parameter in nuclear medium. This is similar to the final-state multiple parton scattering in deeply inelastic scattering (DIS) off large nuclei and leads to the suppression of the Drell-Yan cross section in $p+A$ relative to $p+p$ collisions. With the value of quark transport parameter determined from the nuclear modification of single-inclusive DIS hadron spectra as measured by the HERMES experiment, we calculate DY spectra in $p+A$ collisions and find the nuclear suppression due to beam parton energy loss negligible at the Fermilab energy $E_{\rm lab}$=800 GeV in the kinematic region as covered by the E866 experiment. Most of the observed nuclear suppression of DY spectra in E866 experiment can be described well by parton shadowing in target nuclei as given by the EPS08 parameterization. The effect of beam parton energy loss, however, becomes significant for DY lepton pairs with large beam parton momentum fraction $x^{\prime}$ or small target parton momentum fraction $x$. We also predict the DY cross section in $p+A$ collisions at lower beam proton energy $E_{\rm lab}$=120 GeV and show significant suppression due to initial state parton energy loss at moderately large $x^{\prime}$ where the effect of parton shadowing is very small.

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arXiv2010

Quark splitting in non-trivial θ-vacuum

Quark splitting in non-trivial $θ$-vacuum with a given helicity is investigated in pQCD with a modified quark propagator. We found that the quark splitting functions were modified by the presence of a topologically non-trivial QCD background field, though there is no explicit helicity flip associated with the radiative processes. The interaction with the topological non-trivial field leads to the degeneracy of the quark splitting functions for left- and right-handed quarks. Such degeneracy can lead to imbalance of left- and right-handed quarks in quark jet showers. We also discuss phenomenological consequences of such imbalance if there exists non-trivial topological gluon field configuration in heavy-ion collisions.

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