Fragmentation, Factorization and Infrared Poles in Heavy Quarkonium Production

Gouranga C. Nayak, Jian-Wei Qiu, George Sterman

Published 2005-01-25Version 1

We explore the role of soft gluon exchange in heavy quarkonium production at large transverse momentum. We find uncanceled infrared poles at NNLO that are not matched by conventional NRQCD matrix elements. We show, however, that gauge invariance and factorization require that conventional NRQCD production operators be modified to include nonabelian phases or Wilson lines. With appropriately modified operators, factorization is restored at NNLO. We also argue that, in the absence of special cancellations, infrared poles at yet higher orders may require the inclusion of additional nonlocal operators, not present in the NRQCD expansion in relative veloctiy.