Basis transformation properties of anomalous dimensions for hard exclusive processes

When considering the renormalization of composite operators for the description of hard exclusive scattering processes, two types of operator basis called the derivative basis and the Gegenbauer basis are often used in the literature. In this work we set up the explicit similarity transformations between these two bases, both for quark and gluon operators. This way, one can use the properties of both bases to their advantage in the computation of the operator anomalous dimensions, which describe the scale dependence of non-perturbative non-forward parton distributions. We provide several applications of our framework. As an application of the gluon transformation formula, we compute the one-loop non-forward purely gluonic anomalous dimension matrix. For the rest of the applications we focus on the transformation formula of the quark operator. We derive the Gegenbauer anomalous dimensions, in the limit of a large number of quark flavors $n_f$, to all orders in the strong coupling $\alpha_s$, extending the computation previously performed in the derivative basis. Next a numeric calculation of the two-loop anomalous dimensions in the derivative basis beyond the leading-color limit is presented. Finally, we discuss a novel way of validating existing computations of the conformal anomaly based on the leading-color anomalous dimensions in the derivative basis.