One-loop QCD corrections to heavy quark angular distributions in DIS

Abstract

In this paper we calculate the fully differential cross sections for inclusive heavy quark production in deep-inelastic scattering. We construct proper projection operators to give all possible azimuthal angle distributions of the heavy quark for unpolarized and longitudinally polarized scatterings. These projection operators are expressed in terms of momenta of incoming hadron, virtual photon and detected heavy quark. The azimuthal angle distributions are calculated to next-to-leading order of $\alpha_s$, i.e., $O(\alpha_s^2)$, in a unified way. Analytic expressions of the hard coefficients are given. Numerical results on future electron-ion colliders are also given. It is found that at least three azimuthal angle asymmetries can be more than $1\%$ in typical kinematical regions of these colliders.