How to measure the linear polarization of gluons in unpolarized proton using the heavy-quark pair leptoproduction

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We study the azimuthal $\cos \varphi$ and $\cos 2\varphi$ asymmetries in heavy-quark pair leptoproduction, $lN\rightarrow l^{\prime}Q\bar{Q}X$, as probes of linearly polarized gluons inside unpolarized proton, where the azimuth $\varphi$ is the angle between the lepton scattering plane $(l,l^{\prime})$ and the heavy quark production plane $(N,Q)$.

• First, we determine the maximal values for the $\cos \varphi$ and $\cos 2\varphi$ asymmetries allowed by the photon-gluon fusion with unpolarized gluons; these predictions are large, $(\sqrt{3}-1)/2$ and $1/3$, respectively.
• Then we calculate the contribution of the transverse-momentum dependent gluonic counterpart of the Boer-Mulders function, $h_{1}^{\perp g}$, describing the linear polarization of gluons inside unpolarized proton.
• Our analysis shows that the maximum values of the azimuthal distributions depend strongly on the gluon polarization; they vary from 0 to 1 depending on $h_{1}^{\perp g}$.