Perturbative QCD Analysis of the Nucleon's Pauli Form Factor ${F}_{2}({Q}^{2})$

Perturbative QCD Analysis of the Nucleon’s Pauli Form Factor $F_{2} (Q^{2})$

A. V. Belitsky, Xiangdong Ji, and Feng Yuan

Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 092003 – Published 27 August 2003

Abstract

We perform a perturbative QCD analysis of the nucleon’s Pauli form factor $F_{2} (Q^{2})$ in the asymptotically large $Q^{2}$ limit. We find that the leading contribution to $F_{2} (Q^{2})$ has a $1 / Q^{6}$ power behavior, consistent with the well-known result in the literature. Its coefficient depends on the leading- and subleading-twist light-cone wave functions of the nucleon, the latter describing the quarks with one unit of orbital angular momentum. We also derive at the logarithmic accuracy the asymptotic scaling $F_{2} (Q^{2}) / F_{1} (Q^{2}) \sim ({log }^{2} Q^{2} / Λ^{2}) / Q^{2}$ which describes recent Jefferson Lab data well.