Probing generalized parton distributions with electroproduction of lepton pairs off the nucleon

Abstract

We evaluate the differential cross section for the electroproduction of lepton pairs off a polarized nucleon target in the generalized Bjorken region to leading power accuracy in hard momentum. We discuss the importance of this process for phenomenology of generalized parton distributions. A special attention is given to the sensitivity of physical observables, i.e., diverse asymmetries, to their dependence on scaling variables that allows to map directly the functional two-dimensional surface of generalized parton distributions.

Comments: 45 pages, Latex, 9 figures