English

Can NRQCD explain the $\gamma\gamma^* \to \eta_c$ transition form factor data?

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology 2015-12-02 v2 High Energy Physics - Experiment

Abstract

Unlike the bewildering situation in the γγπ\gamma\gamma^*\to \pi form factor, a widespread view is that perturbative QCD can decently account for the recent \textsc{BaBar} measurement of γγηc\gamma\gamma^*\to \eta_c transition form factor. The next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) perturbative correction to the γγηc,b\gamma\gamma^*\to \eta_{c,b} form factor, is investigated in the NRQCD factorization framework for the first time. As a byproduct, we obtain by far the most precise order-αs2\alpha_s^2 NRQCD matching coefficient for the ηc,bγγ\eta_{c,b}\to \gamma\gamma process. After including the substantial negative order-αs2\alpha_s^2 correction, the good agreement between NRQCD prediction and the measured γγηc\gamma\gamma^*\to \eta_c form factor is completely ruined over a wide range of momentum transfer squared. This eminent discrepancy casts some doubts on the applicability of NRQCD approach to hard exclusive reactions involving charmonium.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1505.02665,
  title  = {Can NRQCD explain the $\gamma\gamma^* \to \eta_c$ transition form factor data?},
  author = {Feng Feng and Yu Jia and Wen-Long Sang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1505.02665},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

6 pages, 3 figures and 1 table; adding Eqs.(8) and (9) as well as some references, correcting errors in Table 1, updating Fig.3 to include the "light-by-light" contributions, devoting a paragraph to discuss why our strategy of interpreting the NNLO corrections is justified; Accepted by PRL

R2 v1 2026-06-22T09:31:54.684Z