Accessing the gluon GTMD $\boldsymbol{F_{1,4}}$ in exclusive $\boldsymbol{\pi^0}$ production in $\boldsymbol{ep}$ collisions

Abstract

We demonstrate that the longitudinal single target-spin asymmetry in exclusive $\pi^0$ production in $ep$ collisions can give access to the imaginary part of the gluon generalized transverse momentum distribution (GTMD) $F_{1,4}$. Such a longitudinal spin asymmetry that results from the Coulomb-nuclear interference effect, leads to a characteristic azimuthal angular correlation of $\sin 2\phi$, where $\phi$ is the azimuthal angle between the scattered lepton transverse momentum and the recoiled proton's transverse momentum. We also present a numerical estimate of the asymmetry for the kinematics accessible at EIC and EicC.