Next-to-leading order QCD analysis of deeply virtual Compton scattering amplitudes

Abstract
We present a next-to-leading order (NLO) QCD analysis of unpolarized and polarized deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) amplitudes, for two different input scenarios, in the MS¯ scheme. We illustrate and discuss the size of the NLO effects and the behavior of the amplitudes in skewedness, ζ, and photon virtuality, Q2. In the unpolarized case, at fixed Q2, we find a remarkable effective power-law behavior in ζ, akin to Regge factorization, over several orders of magnitude in ζ. We also quantify the ratio of real to imaginary parts of the DVCS amplitudes and their sensitivity to changes of the factorization scale.