2009/05/31 by B. Pire, L. Szymanowski
Physics and Astronomy · #High-Energy Particle Collisions Research #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions #hep-ex #hep-ph #nucl-ex #nucl-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.103.072002
published as Phys.Rev.Lett.103:072002,2009 · 4 pages, 1 figure. Version 2 slightly modified, to be published in Phys. Rev. Letters; a few references added
arxiv created 2009/07/28 · openalex publication_date 2009/08/14 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We describe a new way to access the chiral-odd transversity parton distribution in the proton through the photoproduction of lepton pairs. The basic ingredient is the interference of the usual Bethe-Heitler or Drell-Yan amplitudes with the amplitude of a process, where the photon couples to quarks through its chiral-odd distribution amplitude, which is normalized to the magnetic susceptibility of the QCD vacuum. A promising phenomenology of single and double spin observables emerges from the unusual features of this amplitude.