Hard diffractive processes and non-perturbative matrix elements beyond leading twist: rhoT-meson production

Abstract

Within the kt-factorization approach, we evaluate the impact factor of the transition gamma* -> rhoT taking into account the twist 3 contributions. We show that a gauge invariant expression is obtained with the help of QCD equations of motion. More generally, relying on these equations and on the invariance under rotation on the light-cone of the factorized amplitude, the non-perturbative Distribution Amplitudes can be reduced to a minimal set. This opens the way to a consistent treatment of factorization for exclusive processes with a transversally polarized vector meson. We prove the equivalence of two proposed parametrizations of the rhoT distribution amplitudes.