As a possible source of the single transverse spin asymmetry, we study the contribution from purely gluonic correlation represented by the twist-3 "three-gluon correlation" functions in the transversely polarized nucleon. We first define a complete set of the relevant three-gluon correlation functions, and then derive its contribution to the twist-3 single-spin-dependent cross section for the D-meson production in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering, which is relevant to determine the three-gluon correlations. Our cross-section formula differs from the corresponding result in the literature, and the origin of the discrepancy is clarified.

Quasi-parton distribution functions have received a lot of attentions in both perturbative QCD and lattice QCD communities in recent years because they not only carry good information on the parton distribution functions, but also could be evaluated by lattice QCD simulations. However, unlike the parton distribution functions, the quasi-parton distribution functions have perturbative ultraviolet power divergences because they are not defined by twist-2 operators. In this paper, we identify all sources of ultraviolet divergences for the quasi-parton distribution functions in coordinate-space, and demonstrate that power divergences, as well as all logarithmic divergences can be renormalized multiplicatively to all orders in QCD perturbation theory.

We study the single transverse-spin asymmetry for the inclusive open-charm production in the pp-collision, p ↑ p → DX, induced by the three-gluon correlation functions in the polarized nucleon. We derive the corresponding twist-3 cross section formula in the leading order with respect to the QCD coupling constant. As in the case of the semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering, ep ↑ → eDX, our result differs from the previous result in the literature. We also derive a "master formula" which expresses the twist-3 cross section in terms of the gg → cc hard scattering cross section. We present a model calculation of the asymmetry at the RHIC energy, demonstrating the sensitivity of the asymmetry on the form of the three-gluon correlation functions.

We study the twist-3 three-gluon contribution to the single spin asymmetry in the light-hadron production in pp collision in the framework of the collinear factorization. We derive the corresponding cross section formula in the leading order with respect to the QCD coupling constant. We also present a numerical calculation of the asymmetry at the RHIC energy, using a model for the three-gluon correlation functions suggested by the asymmetry observed in the D-meson production at RHIC.