QCD Running Coupling in the Nonperturbative and Near-Perturbative Regimes.

We use analytic continuation to extend the gauge-gravity duality nonperturbative description of the strong force coupling into the transition, near-perturbative, regime where perturbative effects become important. By excluding the unphysical region in coupling space from the flow of singularities in the complex plane, we derive a specific relation between the scales relevant at large and short distances; this relation is uniquely fixed by requiring maximal analyticity. The unified effective coupling model gives an accurate description of the data in the nonperturbative and the near-perturbative regions.

Unified Description of Polarized and Unpolarized Quark Distributions in the Proton.

We propose a unified new approach to describe polarized and unpolarized quark distributions in the proton based on the gauge-gravity correspondence, light-front holography, and the generalized Veneziano model. We find that the spin-dependent quark distributions are uniquely determined in terms of the unpolarized distributions by chirality separation without the introduction of additional free parameters. The predictions are consistent with existing experimental data and agree with perturbative QCD constraints at large longitudinal momentum x.

The spin structure of the nucleon.

We review the present understanding of the spin structure of protons and neutrons, the fundamental building blocks of nuclei collectively known as nucleons. The field of nucleon spin provides a critical window for testing Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), the gauge theory of the strong interactions, since it involves fundamental aspects of hadron structure which can be probed in detail in experiments, particularly deep inelastic lepton scattering on polarized targets. QCD was initially probed in high energy deep inelastic lepton scattering with unpolarized beams and targets.

Universality of Generalized Parton Distributions in Light-Front Holographic QCD.

The structure of generalized parton distributions is determined from light-front holographic QCD up to a universal reparametrization function w(x) which incorporates Regge behavior at small x and inclusive counting rules at x→1. A simple ansatz for w(x) that fulfills these physics constraints with a single-parameter results in precise descriptions of both the nucleon and the pion quark distribution functions in comparison with global fits. The analytic structure of the amplitudes leads to a connection with the Veneziano model and hence to a nontrivial connection with Regge theory and the hadron spectrum.

Renormalization group invariance and optimal QCD renormalization scale-setting: a key issues review.

A valid prediction for a physical observable from quantum field theory should be independent of the choice of renormalization scheme--this is the primary requirement of renormalization group invariance (RGI). Satisfying scheme invariance is a challenging problem for perturbative QCD (pQCD), since a truncated perturbation series does not automatically satisfy the requirements of the renormalization group. In a previous review, we provided a general introduction to the various scale setting approaches suggested in the literature.

Dynamical picture for the formation and decay of the exotic XYZ mesons.

We present a new dynamical picture that identifies the formation of the exotic c[over ¯]c-containing states XYZ with the confinement-induced hadronization of a rapidly separating pair of a compact diquark and antidiquark. This picture combines the advantages of diquark-based models, which can accommodate much of the known XYZ spectrum, with the experimental fact that such states are both relatively narrow and are produced promptly. It also naturally explains the preference of some of the exotic states to decay to ψ(2S), rather than J/ψ, in terms of a simple wave-function overlap effect.

Systematic all-orders method to eliminate renormalization-scale and scheme ambiguities in perturbative QCD.

We introduce a generalization of the conventional renormalization schemes used in dimensional regularization, which illuminates the renormalization scheme and scale ambiguities of perturbative QCD predictions, exposes the general pattern of nonconformal {β(i)} terms, and reveals a special degeneracy of the terms in the perturbative coefficients. It allows us to systematically determine the argument of the running coupling order by order in perturbative QCD in a form which can be readily automatized. The new method satisfies all of the principles of the renormalization group and eliminates an unnecessary source of systematic error.

Eliminating the renormalization scale ambiguity for top-pair production using the principle of maximum conformality.

It is conventional to choose a typical momentum transfer of the process as the renormalization scale and take an arbitrary range to estimate the uncertainty in the QCD prediction. However, predictions using this procedure depend on the renormalization scheme, leave a nonconvergent renormalon perturbative series, and moreover, one obtains incorrect results when applied to QED processes. In contrast, if one fixes the renormalization scale using the principle of maximum conformality (PMC), all nonconformal {β(i)} terms in the perturbative expansion series are summed into the running coupling, and one obtains a unique, scale-fixed, scheme-independent prediction at any finite order.

Direct probes of linearly polarized gluons inside unpolarized hadrons.

We show that linearly polarized gluons inside unpolarized hadrons can be directly probed in jet or heavy quark pair production in electron-hadron collisions. We discuss the simplest cos2ϕ asymmetries and estimate their maximal value, concluding that measurements of the unknown linearly polarized gluon distribution in the proton should be feasible in future Electron-Ion Collider or Large Hadron electron Collider experiments. Analogous asymmetries in hadron-hadron collisions suffer from factorization breaking contributions and would allow us to quantify the importance of initial- and final-state interactions.

Higher-twist dynamics in large transverse momentum hadron production.

A scaling law analysis of the world data on inclusive large-p(⊥) hadron production in hadronic collisions is carried out. Significant deviations from leading-twist perturbative QCD predictions at next-to-leading order are observed, particularly at high x(⊥)=2p(⊥)/sqrt[s]. In contrast, the production of prompt photons and jets exhibits near-conformal scaling behavior in agreement with leading-twist expectations.

Production of the smallest QED atom: true microonium (micro+micro-).

The "true microonium" (micro+micro-) and "true tauonium" (tau+tau-) bound states are not only the heaviest, but also the most compact pure QED systems. The rapid weak decay of the tau makes the observation of true tauonium difficult. However, as we show, the production and study of true microonium is possible at modern electron-positron colliders.

Light-front holography: a first approximation to QCD.

Starting from the Hamiltonian equation of motion in QCD, we identify an invariant light-front coordinate zeta which allows the separation of the dynamics of quark and gluon binding from the kinematics of constituent spin and internal orbital angular momentum. The result is a single-variable light-front Schrödinger equation for QCD which determines the eigenspectrum and the light-front wave functions of hadrons for general spin and orbital angular momentum. This light-front wave equation is equivalent to the equations of motion which describe the propagation of spin-J modes on anti-de Sitter (AdS) space.

Effect of orbital angular momentum on valence-quark helicity distributions.

We study the quark helicity distributions at large x in perturbative QCD, taking into account contributions from the valence Fock states of the nucleon which have nonzero orbital angular momentum. We find that the quark orbital angular momentum contributes a large logarithm to the negative helicity quark distributions in addition to its power behavior, scaling as (1-x){5}log{2}(1-x) in the limit of x-->1. Our analysis shows that the ratio of the polarized over unpolarized down quark distributions, Deltad/d, will still approach 1 in this limit.

Hadronic spectra and light-front wave functions in holographic QCD.

We show how the string amplitude phi(z) defined on the fifth dimension in AdS5 space can be precisely mapped to the light-front wave functions of hadrons in physical space-time. We find an exact correspondence between the holographic variable z and an impact variable zeta, which represents the measure of transverse separation of the constituents within the hadrons. In addition, we derive effective four dimensional Schrödinger equations for the bound states of massless quarks and gluons which exactly reproduce the anti-de Sitter conformal field theory results and give a realistic description of the light-quark meson and baryon spectrum as well as the form factors for space-like Q2.

Hadronic spectrum of a holographic dual of QCD.

We compute the spectrum of light hadrons in a holographic dual of QCD defined on AdS5 x S5 which has conformal behavior at short distances and confinement at large interquark separation. Specific hadrons are identified by the correspondence of string modes with the dimension of the interpolating operator of the hadron's valence Fock state. Higher orbital excitations are matched quanta to quanta with fluctuations about the AdS background.

Constraints on proton structure from precision atomic-physics measurements.

Ground-state hyperfine splittings in hydrogen and muonium are very well measured. Their difference, after correcting for magnetic moment and reduced mass effects, is due solely to proton structure-the large QED contributions for a pointlike nucleus essentially cancel. The rescaled hyperfine difference depends on the Zemach radius, a fundamental measure of the proton, computed as an integral over a product of electric and magnetic proton form factors.

Hunting for glueballs in electron-positron annihilation.

We calculate the cross section for the exclusive production of J(PC)=0(++) glueballs G0 in association with the J/psi in e(+)e(-) annihilation using the perturbative QCD factorization formalism. The required long-distance matrix element for the glueball is bounded by CUSB data from a search for resonances in radiative Upsilon decay. The cross section for e(+)e(-)-->J/psi+G0 at sqrt[s]=10.