Global QCD Analysis of Pion Parton Distributions with Threshold Resummation

Abstract

We perform the first global QCD analysis of pion valence, sea quark, and gluon distributions within a Bayesian Monte Carlo framework with threshold resummation on Drell-Yan cross sections at next-to-leading log accuracy. Exploring various treatments of resummation, we find that the large-$x$ asymptotics of the valence quark distribution $\sim (1-x)^{\beta_v}$ can differ significantly, with $\beta_v$ ranging from $\approx 1$ to $> 2.5$ at the input scale. Regardless of the specific implementation, however, the resummation induced redistribution of the momentum between valence quarks and gluons boosts the total momentum carried by gluons to $\approx 40\%$, increasing the gluon contribution to the pion mass to $\approx 40$ MeV.