The Gauge-Invariant Angular Momentum Sum-Rule for the Proton

We give a gauge-invariant treatment of the angular momentum sum-rule for the proton in terms of matrix elements of three gauge-invariant, local composite operators. These matrix elements are decomposed into three independent form factors, one of which is the flavour singlet axial charge. We further show that the axial charge cancels out of the sum-rule, so that it is unaffacted by the axial anomaly. The three form factors are then related to the four proton spin components in the parton model, namely quark and gluon intrinsic spin and orbital angular momentum. The renormalisation of the three operators is determined to one loop from which the scale dependence and mixing of the spin components is derived under the constraint that the quark spin be scale-independent. We also show how the three form factors can be measured in experiments. CERN-TH/99-390 December 99 Permanent address: Physics Department, University of Wales Swansea, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, U.K.