Parton distribution functions from reduced Ioffe-time distributions

Abstract

We show that the correct way to extract parton distribution functions from the reduced Ioffe-time distribution, a ratio of the Ioffe-time distribution for a moving hadron and a hadron at rest, is through a factorization formula. This factorization exists because, at small distances, forming the ratio does not change the infrared behavior of the numerator, which is factorizable. We illustrate the effect of such a factorization by applying it to results in the literature.