Axial vector diquark correlations in the nucleon: structure functions and static properties

In order to extract information on the strength of quark-quark correlations in the axial vector (a.v.) diquark channel (JP = 1(+), T = 1), we analyze the quark light cone momentum distributions in the nucleon, in particular their flavor dependencies, and the static properties of the nucleon. To construct the nucleon as a relativistic 3-quark bound state, we use a simple static approximation to the full Faddeev equation in the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model, including correlations in the scalar (J(P) = 0(+), T = 0) and a.v. diquark channels. It is shown that the a.v. diquark correlations should be rather weak compared to the scalar ones. From our analysis we extract information on the strength of the correlations as well as on the probability of the a.v. diquark channel. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.