Do gluons carry half of the nucleon momentum?

Understand

We examine the conventional picture that gluons carry about half of the nucleon momentum in the asymptotic limit.

• We reveal that this large fraction is due to an unsuitable definition of the gluon momentum in an interacting theory.
• If defined in a gauge-invariant and consistent way, the asymptotic gluon momentum fraction is computed to be only about one fifth.
• This result suggests that the asymptotic limit of the nucleon spin structure should also be reexamined.