Theory and applications of parton pseudodistributions

Abstract

We review the basic theory of the parton pseudodistributions approach and its applications to lattice extractions of parton distribution functions. The crucial idea of the approach is the realization that the correlator [Formula: see text] of the parton fields is a function [Formula: see text] of Lorentz invariants [Formula: see text], the Ioffe time, and the invariant interval [Formula: see text]. This observation allows to extract the Ioffe-time distribution [Formula: see text] from Euclidean separations [Formula: see text] accessible on the lattice. Another basic feature is the use of the ratio [Formula: see text], that allows to eliminate artificial ultraviolet divergence generated by the gauge link for spacelike intervals. The remaining [Formula: see text]-dependence of the reduced Ioffe-time distribution [Formula: see text] corresponds to perturbative evolution, and can be converted into the scale-dependence of parton distributions [Formula: see text] using matching relations. The [Formula: see text]-dependence of [Formula: see text] governs the [Formula: see text]-dependence of parton densities [Formula: see text]. The perturbative evolution was successfully observed in exploratory quenched lattice calculation. The analysis of its precise data provides a framework for extraction of parton densities using the pseudodistributions approach. It was used in the recently performed calculations of the nucleon and pion valence quark distributions. We also discuss matching conditions for the pion distribution amplitude and generalized parton distributions, the lattice studies of which are now in progress.