Gauge invariance, Lorentz covariance and canonical quantization in nucleon structure studies

There are different operators of quark and gluon momenta, orbital angular momenta, and gluon spin in the nucleon structure study. The precise meaning of these operators are studied based on gauge invariance, Lorentz covariance and canonical quantization rule. The advantage and disadvantage of different definitions are analyzed. A gauge invariant canonical decomposition of the total momentum and angular momentum into quark and gluon parts is suggested based on the decomposition of the gauge potential into gauge invariant (covariant) physical part and gauge dependent pure gauge part. Challenges to this proposal are answered. keywords{Physical and pure gauge potentials; Gauge invariant canonical quark and gluon momenta, orbital angular momenta and spins; Homogeneous and non-homogeneous Lorentz transformations; Gauge invariant decomposition and gauge invariant extension; Classical and quantum measurements.

Spin and orbital angular momentum in gauge theories (I): QED and determination of the angular momentum density

This two-paper series addresses and fixes the long-standing gauge invariance problem of angular momentum in gauge theories. This QED part reveals: 1) The spin and orbital angular momenta of electrons and photons can all be consistently defined gauge invariantly. 2) These gauge-invariant quantities can be conveniently computed via the canonical, gauge-dependent operators (e.g, $psi ^dagger vec x timesfrac 1i vec abla psi$) in the Coulomb gauge, which is in fact what people (unconsciously) do in atomic physics. 3) The renowned formula $vec xtimes(vec Etimesvec B)$ is a wrong density for the electromagnetic angular momentum. The angular distribution of angular-momentum flow in polarized atomic radiation is properly described not by this formula, but by the gauge invariant quantities defined here. The QCD paper [arXiv:0907.1284] will give a non-trivial generalization to non-Abelian gauge theories, and discuss the connection to nucleon spin structure.

Spin and orbital angular momentum in gauge theories (II): QCD and nucleon spin structure

Parallel to the construction of gauge invariant spin and orbital angular momentum for QED in paper (I) of this series, we present here an analogous but non-trivial solution for QCD. Explicitly gauge invariant spin and orbital angular momentum operators of quarks and gluons are obtained. This was previously thought to be an impossible task, and opens a more promising avenue towards the understanding of the nucleon spin structure.