Rapidity loss, spin, and angular asymmetries in the scattering of a quark from the color field of a proton or nucleus

Abstract

We calculate the helicity amplitudes for scattering of a quark from both large and small $x$ gluons of a target proton or nucleus using spinor helicity formalism. We show that scattering from large $x$ gluons of the target results in nonzero spin asymmetry at intermediate ${p}_{t}$ as well as rapidity loss of the projectile quark. We comment on how this can also generate angular asymmetries in particle production in high energy collisions.

Topics & Concepts