Stronger C-odd color charge correlations in the proton at higher energy

Abstract

The nonforward eikonal scattering matrix for dipole-proton scattering at high-energy obtains an imaginary part due to a C-odd three gluon exchange. We present numerical estimates for the perturbative odderon amplitude as a function of dipole size, impact parameter, their relative azimuthal angle, and light-cone momentum cutoff x. The proton is approximated as ψqqq|qqq⟩+ψqqqg|qqqg⟩, where ψqqq is a nonperturbative three-quark model wave function while the gluon emission is computed in light-cone perturbation theory. We find that the odderon amplitude increases as x decreases from 0.1 to 0.01. At yet lower x, the reversal of this energy dependence would reflect the onset of universal small-x renormalization group evolution.