Consistent Analysis of O(\alpha_s) Corrections to Pion Elastic Form Factor

Abstract

We examine the role of O(\alpha_s) perturbative corrections to the pion elastic form factor F_\pi(Q^2). We express the quark current three-point function in terms of light cone variables and use Borel transformation to simultaneously model the Feynman mechanism contribution determined by the soft part of the pion light cone wave function and the hard term involving one gluon exchange. We find that for Q^2 \sim 5 GeV^2 the total one gluon exchange contribution may reach 40% of the soft contribution, even though its hard, factorization scale dependent part remains relatively small.