Scaling Limit of Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering

Abstract

I outline a perturbative QCD approach to the analysis of the deeply virtual Compton scattering process $\gamma^* p \to \gamma p'$ in the limit of vanishing momentum transfer $t= (p' - p)^2$. The DVCS amplitude in this limit exhibits a scaling behaviour described by a two-argument distributions $F(x,y)$ which specify the fractions of the initial momentum $p$ and the momentum transfer $r \equiv p'-p$ carried by the constituents of the nucleon.The kernel $R(x,y;\xi,\eta)$ governing the evolution of the non-forward distributions $F(x,y)$ has a remarkable property: it produces the GLAPD evolution kernel $P(x/\xi)$ when integrated over $y$ and reduces to the Brodsky-Lepage evolution kernel $V(y,\eta)$ after the $x$-integration. This property is used to construct the solution of the one-loop evolution equation for the flavour non-singlet part of the non-forward quark distribution.