Form factor description of the non-collinear Compton scattering tensor

Abstract

We present a parameterization of the non-collinear (virtual) Compton scattering tensor in terms of form factors, in which the Lorentz tensor associated with each form factor possesses manifest electromagnetic gauge invariance. The main finding is that in a well-defined form factor expansion of the scattering tensor, the form factors are either symmetric or antisymmetric under the exchange of two Mandelstam variables, $s$ and $u$. Our decomposition can be used to organize complicated higher-order and higher-twist contributions in the study of the virtual Compton scattering off the proton. Such procedures are illustrated by use of the virtual Compton scattering off the lepton. In passing, we note the general symmetry constraints on Ji's off-forward parton distributions and Radyushkin's double distributions.