Reggeization of quarks from next-to-eikonal high-energy QCD

Abstract

We develop a comprehensive Wilson-line formulation of quark Reggeization in QCD. Starting from a next-to-eikonal operator built from a semi-infinite Wilson line and a background-quark insertion, we identify an interpolating operator for the Reggeized quark and derive its nonlinear rapidity evolution using the background-field method. In the dilute regime, its positive-signature component exhibits Regge-pole evolution governed by the quark Regge trajectory, whereas the negative-signature sector displays mixing between quark and gluon degrees of freedom, in accordance with its known Regge-cut structure. In the planar limit, this mixing is suppressed, and Reggeization emerges without an explicit signature projection, recovering signature degeneracy. We illustrate the universality of the construction by extracting the same Reggeized-quark operator from a more general Wilson-line operator describing a gluon-to-quark transition. Furthermore, we extend the formalism to massive quarks, deriving a coordinate-space evolution kernel whose Fourier transform reproduces the massive-quark Regge trajectory. Finally, from the leading operator-mixing structure of the evolution equation and signature arguments, we show that the Reggeized-quark interpolating operator is expected to remain an eigenstate of the rapidity evolution up to next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy.