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Nucleon-to-pion transition distribution amplitudes and backward electroproduction of pions

Baryon to meson transition distribution amplitudes (TDAs), non-diagonal matrix elements of the nonlocal three quark operator between a nucleon and a meson state, extend the concept of generalized parton distributions. These non-perturbative objects which encode the information on three quark correlations inside the nucleon may be accessed experimentally in backward meson electroproduction reactions. We suggest a general framework for modelling nucleon to pion (pi N) TDAs employing the spectral representation for pi N TDAs in terms of quadruple distributions. The factorized Ansatz for quadruple distributions with input from the soft-pion theorem for pi N TDAs is proposed. It is to be complemented with a D-term like contribution from the nucleon exchange in the cross channel. We present our estimates of the unpolarized cross section and of the transverse target single spin asymmetry for backward pion electroproduction within the QCD collinear factorization approach in which the non-perturbative part of the amplitude involves pi N TDAs. The cross section is sizable enough to be studied in high luminosity experiments such as J-lab@12GeV and EIC.