Single diffractive hard exclusive processes for the study of generalized parton distributions

Generalized parton distributions (GPDs) are important nonperturbative functions that provide tomographic images of partonic structures of hadrons. We introduce a type of exclusive processes, to be referred to as single diffractive hard exclusive processes (SDHEPs). We discuss the necessary and sufficient conditions for SDHEPs to be factorized into GPDs. We demonstrate that the SDHEP is not only sufficiently generic to cover all known processes for extracting GPDs, but is also well motivated for the search of new processes for the study of GPDs. We examine the sensitivity of the SDHEP to the parton momentum fraction x dependence of GPDs.

Automated summary

Generalized parton distributions (GPDs) are nonperturbative functions providing tomographic images of hadronic partonic structures. This study introduces a type of exclusive process, known as single diffractive hard exclusive processes (SDHEPs), and discusses the conditions for factorization into GPDs. It is demonstrated that SDHEP is both capable of covering known processes for extracting GPDs and motivated for the search of new processes. The sensitivity of SDHEP to the x-dependence of GPDs is examined.