Measurement of Exclusive πº Electroproduction Structure Functions and their Relationship to Transverse Generalized Parton Distributions

Exclusive π0 electroproduction at a beam energy of 5.75 GeV has been measured with the Jefferson Lab CLAS spectrometer. Differential cross sections were measured at more than 1800 kinematic values in Q2, xB , t , and ϕπ , in the Q2 range from 1.0 to 4.6 GeV2 , −t up to 2 GeV2 , and xB from 0.1 to 0.58. Structure functions σT+ϵσL , σTT , and σLT were extracted as functions of t for each of 17 combinations of Q2 and xB . The data were compared directly with two handbag-based calculations including both longitudinal and transversity generalized parton distributions (GPDs). Inclusion of only longitudinal GPDs very strongly underestimates σT+ϵσL and fails to account for σTT and σLT , while inclusion of transversity GPDs brings the calculations into substantially better agreement with the data. There is very strong sensitivity to the relative contributions of nucleon helicity-flip and helicity nonflip processes. The results confirm that exclusive π0 electroproduction offers direct experimental access to the transversity GPDs