Eur. Phys. J. C (2002) 23: 651-674
https://doi.org/10.1007/s100520200928

Theoretical physics

A detailed next-to-leading order QCD analysis of deeply virtual Compton scattering observables

Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Regensburg, Universitätstr. 31, 93053, Regensburg, Germany
Division of Theoretical Physics, Dept. Math. Sciences, University of Liverpool, L69 3BX, Liverpool, UK

^* e-mail: andreas.freund@physik.uni-regensburg.de

Received: 30 November 2001
Revised: 12 February 2002
Published online: 15 March 2002

Abstract

We present a detailed next-to-leading order (NLO) leading twist QCD analysis of deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) observables, for several different input scenarios, in the scheme. We discuss the size of the NLO effects and the behavior of the observables in skewedness , momentum transfer,t, and photon virtuality, . We present results on the amplitude level for unpolarized and longitudinally polarized lepton probes, and unpolarized and longitudinally polarized proton targets. We make predictions for various asymmetries and for the DVCS cross section and compare with the available data.