Type: Article
Publication Date: 2012-11-26
Citations: 56
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.86.094039
Transverse single-spin asymmetries in inclusive deep inelastic lepton-nucleon scattering can be generated through multiphoton exchange between the leptonic and the hadronic part of the process. Here we consider the two-photon exchange and mainly focus on the transverse target spin asymmetry. In particular, we investigate the case where two photons couple to different quarks. Such a contribution involves a quark-photon-quark correlator in the nucleon, which has a (model-dependent) relation to the Efremov-Teryaev-Qiu-Sterman quark-gluon-quark correlator ${T}_{F}$. Using different parametrizations for ${T}_{F}$ we compute the transverse target spin asymmetries for both a proton and a neutron target and compare the results to recent experimental data. In addition, potential implications for our general understanding of single-spin asymmetries in hard scattering processes are discussed.