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  • Open Access

Valence quark distribution of the rho meson using a light-front quark model

Satyajit Puhan1,*, Shubham Sharma2,†, Narinder Kumar3,‡, and Harleen Dahiya1,§

  • *Contact author: puhansatyajit@gmail.com
  • †Contact author: s.sharma.hep@gmail.com
  • ‡Contact author: narinderhep@gmail.com
  • §Contact author: dahiyah@nitj.ac.in
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Phys. Rev. D 113, 036030 – Published 27 February, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/xjkc-l5tr

Abstract

We investigate the partonic structure of the ρ meson, the lightest spin-1 vector meson, within the light-front quark model (LFQM). To explore the sensitivity to model assumptions, we employ two distinct types of spin wave functions in the LFQM. Using light-front helicity wave functions, we derive explicit expressions for the leading-twist and subleading-twist quark parton distribution functions (PDFs), and evolve the leading-twist PDFs to higher scales with next-to-leading order (NLO) Dokshitzer-Gribov-Lipatov-Altarelli-Parisi (DGLAP) evolution. We have also calculated the Mellin moment from the evolved PDFs using a simple neural network frame and compared with available theoretical predictions. Furthermore, we compute the full set of nine leading-twist transverse-momentum-dependent distributions (TMDs) for the valence quark in the ρ meson, including three tensor TMDs that arise from spin-1 tensor polarization of the hadron. Positivity constraints for the PDFs and TMDs are examined within this framework. Our findings highlight the crucial role of tensor polarization in shaping the three-dimensional partonic structure of vector mesons.

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Phys. Rev. D 113, 036030– Published 27 February, 2026
  • Received 17 November 2025
  • Accepted 4 February 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.

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