Sudakov suppression in azimuthal spin asymmetries

Abstract

It is shown that transverse momentum dependent azimuthal spin asymmetries suffer from suppression due to Sudakov factors, in the region where the transverse momentum is much smaller than the large energy scale Q^2. The size and Q^2 dependence of this suppression are studied numerically for two such asymmetries, both arising due to the Collins effect. General features are discussed of how the fall-off with Q^2 is affected by the nonperturbative Sudakov factor and by the transverse momentum weights and angular dependences that appear in different asymmetries. For a subset of asymmetries the asymptotic Q^2 behavior is calculated analytically, providing an upper bound for the decrease with energy of other asymmetries. The effect of Sudakov factors on the transverse momentum distributions is found to be very significant already at present-day collider energies. Therefore, it is essential to take into account Sudakov factors in transverse momentum dependent azimuthal spin asymmetries.