<p>It is well-known that the back-to-back (correlation) limit of inclusive quark-antiquark dijet production in unpolarized high energy electron-proton collisions can probe the Weizsäcker-Williams (WW) gluon transverse momentum-dependent distribution (TMD) at small <i>x</i> [<CitationRef CitationID="CR1">1</CitationRef>, <CitationRef CitationID="CR2">2</CitationRef>]. In this paper, we consider a helicity-dependent version of the same process: we study the double-spin asymmetry for inclusive quark-antiquark dijet production in longitudinally polarized electron-proton scattering at high energies. We show that in the back-to-back limit this process probes the WW gluon <i>helicity</i> TMD. Furthermore, we derive the small-<i>x</i> evolution equation for the operator related to the WW gluon helicity distribution. We find that in the double-logarithmic approximation and in the large-<i>N</i><sub><i>c</i></sub> limit, the small-<i>x</i> asymptotics of the WW gluon helicity distribution is governed by exactly the same evolution equation as that for the <i>dipole</i> gluon helicity distribution. The longitudinal double-spin asymmetry for inclusive dijet production in the longitudinally polarized electron-proton collisions can thus test the small-<i>x</i> helicity evolution equations and facilitate constraining the initial conditions for phenomenology based on these equations.</p>

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Weizsäcker-Williams gluon helicity distribution and inclusive dijet production in longitudinally polarized electron-proton collisions

  • Yuri V. Kovchegov,
  • Ming Li

摘要

It is well-known that the back-to-back (correlation) limit of inclusive quark-antiquark dijet production in unpolarized high energy electron-proton collisions can probe the Weizsäcker-Williams (WW) gluon transverse momentum-dependent distribution (TMD) at small x [1, 2]. In this paper, we consider a helicity-dependent version of the same process: we study the double-spin asymmetry for inclusive quark-antiquark dijet production in longitudinally polarized electron-proton scattering at high energies. We show that in the back-to-back limit this process probes the WW gluon helicity TMD. Furthermore, we derive the small-x evolution equation for the operator related to the WW gluon helicity distribution. We find that in the double-logarithmic approximation and in the large-Nc limit, the small-x asymptotics of the WW gluon helicity distribution is governed by exactly the same evolution equation as that for the dipole gluon helicity distribution. The longitudinal double-spin asymmetry for inclusive dijet production in the longitudinally polarized electron-proton collisions can thus test the small-x helicity evolution equations and facilitate constraining the initial conditions for phenomenology based on these equations.