QCD at the amplitude level: Fock state interference in heavy quark electroproduction

Abstract

Abstract Quantum chromodynamics (QCD) rigorously predicts the existence of both nonperturbative intrinsic and perturbative extrinsic heavy quark contents of nucleons. In this article we discuss the heavy quark electroproduction on protons induced by the Fock states ∣uud + g〉 of three valence quarks in the proton and a nonperturbative gluon, and the $$ \mid uud+Q\overline{Q}\Big\rangle $$ ∣ uud + Q Q ¯ 〉 non-perturbative state of three valence quarks and a heavy quark-antiquark pair. The first one gives the perturbative contribution when the gluon produces a heavy quark pair, while the second is the intrinsic part, and they produce amplitude interference. We use nonperturbative light-front wavefunctions for these Fock states, which are computed using the color-confining light-front holographic QCD theory. Due to interference of the amplitudes corresponding to the intrinsic and extrinsic heavy quark contribution to the proton a novel Q vs. $$ \overline{Q} $$ Q ¯ asymmetry emerges in the differential cross section of the electroproduction off a proton $$ {d}^2{\sigma}_{e^{-}p}/\left( dxd{Q}^2\right) $$ d 2 σ e − p / dxd Q 2 . Our analysis proposed a novel asymmetry in QCD between intrinsic and extrinsic heavy quark content in nucleon and provides new insights into the physics of heavy quark phenomena in QCD at the amplitude level. This asymmetry is similar to the Brodsky-Gillespie asymmetry discovered before in QED case and confirmed at DESY.