Nonperturbative Evolution of Parton Quasi-Distributions

Abstract

Using our formalism of parton virtuality distribution functions (VDFs) we establish a connection between the transverse momentum dependent distributions (TMDs) $\mathcal{F}(x,k_{\perp }^2)$ and quasi-distributions $Q(y,P_z)$ introduced recently by X. Ji for lattice QCD extraction of parton distributions $f(x)$. We build models for PQDs from the VDF-based models for soft TMDs, and analyze the $P_z$ dependence of the resulting PQDs. We observe a strong nonperturbative evolution of PQDs for small and moderately large values of $P_z$ reflecting the transverse momentum dependence of TMDs. Thus, the study of PQDs on the lattice in the domain of strong nonperturbative effects opens a new perspective for investigation of the 3-dimensional hadron structure.

Comments: Version to appear in Physics Letters B