Empirical Determination of the Kaon Distribution Amplitude

Abstract

We propose a data-driven approach to extract the Kaon leading-twist distribution amplitude (DA) from empirical information on the ratio of the neutral-to-charged kaon electromagnetic form factors, $\mathcal{R}_K$. Our study employs a two-parameter representation of the DA at $\zeta=2$ GeV, designed to capture the expected broadening and asymmetry of the distribution, as well as the soft endpoint behavior predicted by quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Our leading-order analysis of the latest experimental measurements of $\mathcal{R}_K$ reveals that the extracted DA exhibits a somewhat significant skewness, with the first symmetric moment approximately $\langle 1-2x \rangle_K= 0.082(7)$. On the other hand, the brodaness and general shape of the produced distributions show a reasonable consistency with contemporaty lattice and continuum QCD analyses. These findings highlight the importance of accurately determining the profile of the DA, especially the skewness and its relation to $SU_F(3)$ flavor symmetry breaking, as well as the inclusion of higher-order effects in the hard-scattering kernels for analyzing data at experimentally accessible scales.