Light-Front Dynamics in Hadron Physics

Light-front dynamics(LFD) plays an important role in the analyses of relativistic few-body systems. As evidenced from the recent studies of generalized parton distributions (GPDs) in hadron physics, a natural framework for a detailed study of hadron structures is LFD due to its direct application in Minkowski space as well as its distinct feature of accounting for the vacuum fluctuations in quantum field theories. In the last few years, however, it has been emphasized that treacherous points such as LF singularities and zero-modes should be taken into account for successful LFD applications to hadron phenomenology. In this paper, we discuss a typical example of the contemporary relativistic hadron physics in which the fundamental issues should be taken into account for the successful application of LFD. In particular, we focus on the kinematic issue of GPDs in deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS). Although this fundamental issue has been glossed over in the literature, it must be taken care of for the correct analysis of DVCS data. © 2012 Springer-Verlag