Quark Reggeization in QCD from the Wilson line formalism

Abstract

We establish a Wilson-line formulation of quark Reggeization in QCD. An interpolating operator for the Reggeized quark is identified in terms of semi-infinite Wilson lines, and its nonlinear rapidity evolution is derived. We provide strong evidence that this operator remains an eigenstate of the rapidity evolution up to next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy. Within the leading logarithmic accuracy, we explicitly recover the one-loop quark Regge trajectory. Our results provide a first-principles operator framework for quark Reggeization and pave the way for a systematic all-order description of high-energy QCD amplitudes with $t$-channel quark exchange in terms of Wilson lines.

Comments: 5 pages, 2 Figures