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High-Energy Effective Action From Scattering Of Qcd Shock Waves, Ian Balitsky

Physics Faculty Publications

At high energies, the relevant degrees of freedom are Wilson lines—infinite gauge links ordered along straight lines collinear to the velocities of colliding particles. The effective action for these Wilson lines is determined by the scattering of QCD shock waves. I develop the symmetric expansion of the effective action in powers of strength of one of the shock waves and calculate the leading term of the series. The corresponding first-order effective action, symmetric with respect to projectile and target, includes both up and down fan diagrams and pomeron loops.