PION FORM FACTORS AT INTERMEDIATE MOMENTUM TRANSFER IN A COVARIANT APPROACH

Abstract

We study the pion electromagnetic and γ*+π0→γ transition form factors at intermediate momentum transfer. We calculate soft, nonperturbative corrections to the leading perturbative amplitudes which arise from the [Formula: see text] component of the pion wave function. We work in Minkowski space and use a Lorentz-covariant, gauge-invariant generalized perturbative integral representation for the [Formula: see text] amplitudes. For the transition form factor we find relative insensitivity to the detailed nonperturbative structure of the wave function for |q2|≳10 GeV 2, whereas considerable sensitivity is found for the electromagnetic form factor.