Spatial distribution of angular momentum inside the nucleon

Abstract

We discuss in detail the spatial distribution of angular momentum inside the nucleon. We show that the discrepancies between different definitions originate from terms that integrate to zero. Even though these terms can safely be dropped at the integrated level, they have to be taken into account when discussing distributions. Using the scalar diquark model, we illustrate our results and, for the first time, check explicitly that the equivalence between kinetic and canonical orbital angular momentum persists at the level of distributions, as expected in a system without gauge degrees of freedom.

Keywords

• Energy–momentum tensor
• Angular momentum
• Spin structure of the nucleon