Proton Structure Functions at Next-to-Leading Order in the Dipole Picture with Massive Quarks

Area of Science:

• High-energy particle physics
• Quantum chromodynamics
• Effective field theories

Background:

• Understanding quark production in deep inelastic scattering is crucial for probing the structure of matter at high energies.
• Previous models struggled to simultaneously describe both light and heavy quark production data at small Bjorken-x.
• The color glass condensate effective theory provides a framework for studying high-energy QCD phenomena.

Purpose of the Study:

• To predict heavy quark production cross sections in deep inelastic scattering.
• To achieve simultaneous description of light and heavy quark production data at small x_{Bj} using the color glass condensate effective theory.
• To constrain nonperturbative initial conditions for small-x_{Bj} evolution equations.

Main Methods:

• Application of the color glass condensate effective theory.
• Consistent calculation at next-to-leading order accuracy with massive quarks.
• Utilizing the dipole picture with perturbatively calculated center-of-mass energy evolution.

Main Results:

• Achieved the first simultaneous description of light and heavy quark production data at small x_{Bj}.
• Demonstrated the predictive power of the color glass condensate effective theory for heavy quark production.
• Showcased how heavy quark cross section data strongly constrains nonperturbative initial conditions.

Conclusions:

• The color glass condensate effective theory, when consistently applied at next-to-leading order with massive quarks, successfully describes heavy quark production.
• This approach offers a unified description of both light and heavy quark production at small x_{Bj}.
• Heavy quark data serves as a powerful tool for refining our understanding of the initial conditions governing small-x_{Bj} evolution.