arXiv subjects

Raju Venugopalan

Publications and source records attributed to Raju Venugopalan.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2024

Back-to-back inclusive dijets in DIS at small $x$: Complete NLO results and predictions

We compute the back-to-back dijet cross-section in deep inelastic scattering (DIS) at small $x$ to next-to-leading order (NLO) in the Color Glass Condensate effective field theory. Our result can be factorized into a convolution of the Weizsäcker-Williams gluon transverse momentum dependent distribution function (WW gluon TMD) with a universal soft factor and an NLO coefficient function. The soft factor includes both double and single logarithms in the ratio of the relative transverse momentum $P_\perp$ of the dijet pair to the dijet momentum imbalance $q_\perp$; its renormalization group (RG) evolution is resummed into the Sudakov factor. Likewise, the WW TMD obeys a nonlinear RG equation in $x$ that is kinematically constrained to satisfy both lifetime and rapidity ordering of the projectile. Exact analytical expressions are obtained for the NLO coefficient function of transversely and longitudinally polarized photons. Our results allow for the first quantitative separation of the dynamics of Sudakov suppression from that of gluon saturation. They can be extended to other final states and provide a framework for precision tests of novel QCD many-body dynamics at the Electron-Ion Collider.

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arXiv2024

Universal features of $ 2\to N$ scattering in QCD and gravity from shockwave collisions

A remarkable double copy relation of Einstein gravity to QCD in Regge asymptotics is $Γ^{μν}= \frac12C^μC^ν- \frac12N^μN^ν$, where $Γ^{μν}$ is the gravitational Lipatov vertex in the $2\to 3$ graviton scattering amplitude, $C^μ$ its Yang-Mills counterpart, and $N^μ$ the QED bremssstrahlung vertex. In QCD, the Lipatov vertex is a fundamental building block of the BFKL equation describing $2\to N$ scattering of gluons at high energies. Likewise, the gravitational Lipatov vertex is a key ingredient in a 2-D effective field theory framework describing trans-Planckian $2\to N$ graviton scattering. We construct a quantitative correspondence between a semi-classical Yang-Mills framework for radiation in gluon shockwave collisions and its counterpart in general relativity. In particular, we demonstrate the Lipatov double copy in a dilute-dilute approximation corresponding to $R_{S,L}$, $R_{S,H}$ $ \ll b$, with $R_{S,L}$, $R_{S,H}$ the respective emergent Schwarzchild radii generated in shockwave collisions and $b$ is the impact parameter. We outline extensions of the correspondence developed here to the dilute-dense computation of gravitational wave radiation in close vicinity of one of the black holes, the construction of graviton propagators in the shockwave background, and a renormalization group approach to compute $2\rightarrow N$ amplitudes that incorporates graviton reggeization and coherent graviton multiple scattering.

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arXiv2023

Wee partons in QCD and gravity: double copy and universality

We discuss a quantitative "double copy" between radiation from shockwave collisions in Einstein gravity and in QCD. The correspondence extends to $2\rightarrow N$ amplitudes in Regge asymptotics. The classicalization and unitarization of these amplitudes at maximal occupancy, corresponding to black hole and Color Glass Condensate (CGC) states respectively, are described by the emergent Goldstone dynamics of wee partons. We outline some consequences of the universal dynamics on both sides of the correspondence.

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arXiv2023

QED as a many-body theory of worldlines: II. All-order S-matrix formalism

In arXiv:2206.04188, we developed a first-quantized worldline formalism for all-order computations of amplitudes in QED. In particular, we demonstrated in this framework an all-order proof of the infrared safety of the Faddeev-Kulish (FK) S-matrix for virtual exchanges in the scattering of charged fermions. In this work, we extend the worldline formalism for both the Dyson and FK S-matrix to consider further the emission and absorption of arbitrary numbers of photons. We show how Low's theorem follows in this framework and derive Weinberg's theorem for the exponentiation of IR divergences. In particular, we extend our all-order proof of the IR safety of the FK S-matrix to both virtual exchanges and real photon emissions. We argue that the worldline approach leads to a modern Wilsonian interpretation of the IR safety of the FK S-matrix and provides a novel template for the treatment of IR divergences in real-time problems. Using Grassmannian integration methods, we derive a simple and powerful result for N-th rank vacuum polarization tensors. Applications of these methods will be discussed in follow-up work.

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arXiv2023

Back-to-back inclusive dijets in DIS at small $x$: Gluon Weizsäcker-Williams distribution at NLO

In JHEP 11 (2022) 169, we performed the first complete computation of the back-to-back inclusive di-jet cross-section in Deeply Inelastic Scattering (DIS) at small $x_{\rm Bj}$ to next-to-leading order (NLO) in the Color Glass Condensate effective field theory (CGC EFT). We demonstrate here that for di-jets with relative transverse momentum $P_\perp$ and transverse momentum imbalance $q_\perp$, to leading power in $q_\perp/P_\perp$, the cross-section for longitudinally polarized photons can be fully factorized into the product of a perturbative impact factor and the nonperturbative Weizsäcker-Williams (WW) transverse momentum dependent (TMD) gluon distribution to NLO accuracy. The impact factor can further be expressed as the product of a universal soft factor which resums Sudakov double and single logs in $P_\perp/q_\perp$ and a coefficient function given by a remarkably compact analytic expression. We show that in the CGC EFT the WW TMD satisfies a kinematically constrained JIMWLK renormalization group evolution in rapidity. This factorization formula is valid to all orders in $Q_s/q_\perp$ for $q_\perp, Q_s \ll P_\perp$, where $Q_s$ is the semi-hard saturation scale that grows with rapidity.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

TMD Handbook

This handbook provides a comprehensive review of transverse-momentum-dependent parton distribution functions and fragmentation functions, commonly referred to as transverse momentum distributions (TMDs). TMDs describe the distribution of partons inside the proton and other hadrons with respect to both their longitudinal and transverse momenta. They provide unique insight into the internal momentum and spin structure of hadrons, and are a key ingredient in the description of many collider physics cross sections. Understanding TMDs requires a combination of theoretical techniques from quantum field theory, nonperturbative calculations using lattice QCD, and phenomenological analysis of experimental data. The handbook covers a wide range of topics, from theoretical foundations to experimental analyses, as well as recent developments and future directions. It is intended to provide an essential reference for researchers and graduate students interested in understanding the structure of hadrons and the dynamics of partons in high energy collisions.

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arXiv2022

Back-to-back inclusive dijets in DIS at small $x$: Sudakov suppression and gluon saturation at NLO

Back-to-back dijet cross-sections in deeply inelastic scattering (DIS) at small $x_{\rm Bj}$ are suppressed by many-body multiple scattering and screening effects arising from gluon saturation at high parton densities. They are similarly sensitive in these kinematics to large Sudakov logarithms from soft gluon radiation. Uncovering novel physics in this DIS channel therefore requires understanding the interplay of the two phenomena. In this work, we compute the small $x_{\rm Bj}$ inclusive dijet DIS cross-section in back-to-back kinematics at next-to-leading order (NLO) in the Color Glass Condensate effective field theory (CGC EFT). Our result includes, for the first time, all real and virtual NLO contributions to the impact factor. These include all Sudakov double and single logarithm contributions, as well as all other finite $\mathcal{O}(α_s)$ terms that contribute at this order. We demonstrate explicitly that resummations of small $x$ and Sudakov logarithms can be performed simultaneously in the CGC EFT. This requires that the JIMWLK kernel for small $x$ evolution of the Weizsäcker-Williams (WW) gluon distribution satisfies a kinematic constraint imposed by lifetime ordering of successive gluon emissions; the corresponding modifications to the kernel, corresponding to resummations of large double transverse logarithms, are precisely of the type required to stabilize JIMWLK evolution beyond leading logarithmic accuracy. We compute the azimuthal harmonics of the NLO back-to-back distributions and show their sensitivity to both the unpolarized and linearly polarized WW gluon distributions. Finally, we discuss how TMD factorization is broken by an emergent saturation scale at small $x$.

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arXiv2022

Dijet impact factor in DIS at next-to-leading order in the Color Glass Condensate

We compute the next-to-leading order impact factor for inclusive dijet production in deeply inelastic electron-nucleus scattering at small $x_{\rm Bj}$. Our computation, performed in the framework of the Color Glass Condensate effective field theory, includes all real and virtual contributions in the gluon shock wave background of all-twist lightlike Wilson line correlators. We demonstrate explicitly that the rapidity evolution of these correlators, to leading logarithmic accuracy, is described by the JIMWLK Hamiltonian. When combined with the next-to-leading order JIMWLK Hamiltonian, our results for the impact factor improve the accuracy of the inclusive dijet cross section to $\mathcal{O}(α_s^2 \ln(x_f/x_{\rm Bj}))$, where $x_f$ is a rapidity factorization scale. These results are an essential ingredient in assessing the discovery potential of inclusive dijets to uncover the physics of gluon saturation at the Electron-Ion Collider.

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arXiv2022

Measurement of Bell-type inequalities and quantum entanglement from $Λ$-hyperon spin correlations at high energy colliders

Spin correlations of $Λ$-hyperons embedded in the QCD strings formed in high energy collider experiments provide unique insight into their locality and entanglement features. We show from general considerations that while the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality is less stringent for such states, they provide a benchmark for quantum-to-classical transitions induced by varying i) the associated hadron multiplicity, ii) the spin of nucleons, iii) the separation in rapidity between pairs, and iv) the kinematic regimes accessed. These studies also enable the extraction of quantitative measures of quantum entanglement. We first explore such questions within a simple model of a QCD string composed of singlets of two partial distinguishable fermion flavors and compare analytical results to those obtained on quantum hardware. We further discuss a class of spin Hamiltonians that model the dynamics of $Λ$ spin correlations. Prospects for extracting quantum features of QCD strings from hyperon measurements at current and future colliders are outlined.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

QED as a many-body theory of worldlines: I. General formalism and infrared structure

We discuss a reformulation of QED in which matter and gauge fields are integrated out explicitly, resulting in a many-body Lorentz covariant theory of 0+1 dimensional worldlines describing super-pairs of spinning charges interacting through Lorentz forces. This provides a powerful, string inspired definition of amplitudes to all loop orders. In particular, one obtains a more general formulation of Wilson loops and lines, with exponentiated dynamical fields and spin precession contributions, and worldline contour averages exactly defined through first quantized path integrals. We discuss in detail the attractive features of this formalism for high order perturbative computations. We show that worldline S-matrix elements, to all loop orders in perturbation theory, can be constructed to be manifestly free of soft singularities, with infrared (IR) divergences captured and removed by endpoint photon exchanges at infinity that are equivalent to the soft coherent dressings of the Dyson S-matrix proposed by Faddeev and Kulish. We discuss these IR structures and make connections with soft theorems, the Abelian exponentiation of IR divergences and cusp anomalous dimensions. Follow-up papers will discuss the efficient computation of cusp anomalous dimensions and universal features of soft theorems.

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arXiv2022

The role of the chiral anomaly in polarized deeply inelastic scattering II: Topological screening and transitions from emergent axion-like dynamics

In [1], we demonstrated that the structure function $g_1(x_B,Q^2)$ measured in polarized deeply inelastic scattering (DIS) is dominated by the triangle anomaly in both the Bjorken limit of large $Q^2$ and the Regge limit of small $x_B$. In the worldline formulation of quantum field theory, the triangle anomaly arises from the imaginary part of the worldline effective action. We show explicitly how a Wess-Zumino-Witten term coupling the topological charge density to a primordial isosinglet ${\bar η}$ arises in this framework. We demonstrate the fundamental role played by this contribution both in topological mass generation of the $η^\prime$ and in the cancellation of the off-forward pole arising from the triangle anomaly in the proton's helicity $Σ(Q^2)$. We recover the striking result by Shore and Veneziano that $Σ\propto \sqrt{χ'(0)}$, where $χ'$ is the slope of the QCD topological susceptibility in the forward limit. We construct an axion-like effective action for $g_1$ at small $x_B$ that describes the interplay between gluon saturation and the topology of the QCD vacuum. In particular, we outline the role of "over-the-barrier" sphaleron-like transitions in spin diffusion at small $x_B$. Such topological transitions can be measured in polarized DIS at a future Electron-Ion Collider.

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arXiv2021

The BEST framework for the search for the QCD critical point and the chiral magnetic effect

The Beam Energy Scan Theory (BEST) Collaboration was formed with the goal of providing a theoretical framework for analyzing data from the Beam Energy Scan (BES) program at the relativistic heavy ion collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The physics goal of the BES program is the search for a conjectured QCD critical point as well as for manifestations of the chiral magnetic effect. We describe progress that has been made over the previous five years. This includes studies of the equation of state and equilibrium susceptibilities, the development of suitable initial state models, progress in constructing a hydrodynamic framework that includes fluctuations and anomalous transport effects, as well as the development of freezeout prescriptions and hadronic transport models. Finally, we address the challenge of integrating these components into a complete analysis framework. This document describes the collective effort of the BEST Collaboration and its collaborators around the world.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2021

QCD thermalization: Ab initio approaches and interdisciplinary connections

Heavy-ion collisions at BNL's Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and CERN's Large Hadron Collider provide strong evidence for the formation of a quark-gluon plasma, with temperatures extracted from relativistic viscous hydrodynamic simulations shown to be well above the transition temperature from hadron matter. How the strongly correlated quark-gluon matter forms in a heavy-ion collision, its properties off-equilibrium, and the thermalization process in the plasma, are outstanding problems in QCD. We review here the theoretical progress in this field in weak coupling QCD effective field theories and in strong coupling holographic approaches based on gauge-gravity duality. We outline the interdisciplinary connections of different stages of the thermalization process to non-equilibrium dynamics in other systems across energy scales ranging from inflationary cosmology, to strong field QED, to ultracold atomic gases, with emphasis on the universal dynamics of non-thermal and of hydrodynamic attractors. We survey measurements in heavy-ion collisions that are sensitive to the early non-equilibrium stages of the collision and discuss the potential for future measurements. We summarize the current state-of-the art in thermalization studies and identify promising avenues for further progress.

hep-th↗

arXiv2021

Classicalization and unitarization of wee partons in QCD and Gravity: The CGC-Black Hole correspondence

We discuss a remarkable correspondence between the description of Black Holes as highly occupied condensates of $N$ weakly interacting gravitons and that of Color Glass Condensates (CGCs) as highly occupied gluon states. In both cases, the dynamics of "wee partons" in Regge asymptotics is controlled by emergent semi-hard scales that lead to perturbative unitarization and classicalization of $2\rightarrow N$ particle amplitudes at weak coupling. In particular, they attain a maximal entropy permitted by unitarity, bounded by the inverse coupling $α$ of the respective constituents. Strikingly, this entropy is equal to the area measured in units of the Goldstone constant corresponding to the spontaneous breaking of Poincar{é} symmetry by the corresponding graviton or gluon condensate. In gravity, the Goldstone constant is the Planck scale, and gives rise to the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy. Likewise, in the CGC, the corresponding Goldstone scale is determined by the onset of gluon screening. We point to further similarities in Black Hole formation, thermalization and decay, to that of the Glasma matter formed from colliding CGCs in ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions, which decays into a Quark-Gluon Plasma.

hep-th↗

arXiv2021

Single-particle digitization strategy for quantum computation of a $ϕ^4$ scalar field theory

Motivated by the parton picture of high energy quantum chromodynamics, we develop a single-particle digitization strategy for the efficient quantum simulation of relativistic scattering processes in a $d+1$ dimensional scalar $ϕ^4$ field theory. We work out quantum algorithms for initial state preparation, time evolution and final state measurements. We outline a non-perturbative renormalization strategy in this single-particle framework.

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arXiv2020

The role of the chiral anomaly in polarized deeply inelastic scattering I: Finding the triangle graph inside the box diagram in Bjorken and Regge asymptotics

We revisit the role of the chiral "triangle" anomaly in deeply inelastic scattering (DIS) of electrons off polarized protons employing a powerful worldline formalism. We demonstrate how the triangle anomaly appears at high energies in the DIS box diagram for the polarized proton structure function $g_1(x_B,Q^2)$ in both the Bjorken limit of large $Q^2$ and in the Regge limit of small $x_B$. We show that the operator product expansion is not required to extract the anomaly in either asymptotics though it is sufficient in the Bjorken limit. Likewise, the infrared pole in the anomaly arises in both limits. The leading contribution to $g_1$, in both Bjorken and Regge asymptotics, is therefore given by the expectation value of the topological charge density, generalizing a result previously argued by Jaffe and Manohar to hold for the first moment of $g_1$. In follow-up work, we will show how our results motivate the derivation of a helicity-dependent effective action incorporating the physics of the anomaly at small $x_B$ and shall discuss the QCD evolution of $g_1(x_B,Q^2)$ in this framework.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

Inclusive prompt photon-jet correlations as a probe of gluon saturation in electron-nucleus scattering at small $x$

We compute the differential cross-section for inclusive prompt photon$+$quark production in deeply inelastic scattering of electrons off nuclei at small $x$ ($e+A$ DIS) in the framework of the Color Glass Condensate effective field theory. The result is expressed as a convolution of the leading order (in the strong coupling $α_{\mathrm{s}}$) impact factor for the process and universal dipole matrix elements, in the limit of hard photon transverse momentum relative to the nuclear saturation scale $Q_{s,A}(x)$. We perform a numerical study of this process for the kinematics of the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), exploring in particular the azimuthal angle correlations between the final state photon and quark. We observe a systematic suppression and broadening pattern of the back-to-back peak in the relative azimuthal angle distribution, as the saturation scale is increased by replacing proton targets with gold nuclei. Our results suggest that photon+jet final states in inclusive $e+A$ DIS at high energies are in general a promising channel for exploring gluon saturation that is complementary to inclusive and diffractive dijet production. They also provide a sensitive empirical test of the universality of dipole matrix elements when compared to identical measurements in proton-nucleus collisions. However because photon+jet correlations at small $x$ in EIC kinematics require jet reconstruction at small $k_\perp$, it will be important to study their feasibility relative to photon-hadron correlations.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

Deeply inelastic scattering structure functions on a hybrid quantum computer

We outline a strategy to compute deeply inelastic scattering structure functions using a hybrid quantum computer. Our approach takes advantage of the representation of the fermion determinant in the QCD path integral as a quantum mechanical path integral over 0+1-dimensional fermionic and bosonic worldlines. The proper time evolution of these worldlines can be determined on a quantum computer. While extremely challenging in general, the problem simplifies in the Regge limit of QCD, where the interaction of the worldlines with gauge fields is strongly localized in proper time and the corresponding quantum circuits can be written down. As a first application, we employ the Color Glass Condensate effective theory to construct the quantum algorithm for a simple dipole model of the $F_2$ structure function. We outline further how this computation scales up in complexity and extends in scope to other real-time correlation functions.

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