- Open Access
Gluon generalized transverse momentum dependent parton distributions and Wigner functions of the proton
Phys. Rev. D 112, 114031 – Published 19 December, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/f5tn-lw8v
Abstract
We present a calculation of the leading-twist (twist-2) generalized transverse momentum distributions (GTMDs) for unpolarized and longitudinally polarized gluons in the proton, using a recently developed light-front gluon spectator model inspired by the soft-wall AdS/QCD prediction. We calculate the gluon GTMDs for nonzero skewness, using overlaps in terms of light-front wave functions. We also compute the gluon Wigner distributions for various polarization configurations of the proton target, including unpolarized, longitudinally polarized, and transversely polarized states. We present these Wigner distributions and the associated spin densities in both the transverse momentum plane and the transverse impact parameter plane. Furthermore, we evaluate the gluon orbital angular momentum and spin-orbit correlations, and extract the generalized parton distribution and transverse momentum-dependent distribution limits of the GTMDs.
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