Next-to-leading order transverse momentum-weighted Sivers asymmetry in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering: the role of the three-gluon correlator

We study the Sivers asymmetry in semi-inclusive hadron production in deep inelastic scattering. We concentrate on the contribution from the photon-gluon fusion channel at ${\cal O}(\alpha_{em}^2 \alpha_s)$, where three-gluon correlation functions play a major role within the twist-3 collinear factorization formalism. We establish the correspondence between such a formalism with three gluon correlation functions and the usual transverse momentum dependent (TMD) factorization formalism at moderate hadron transverse momenta. We derive the coefficient functions used in the usual TMD evolution formalism related to the quark Sivers function expansion in terms of the three-gluon correlation functions. We further perform the next-to-leading order calculation for the transverse-momentum-weighted spin-dependent differential cross section, and identify the off-diagonal contribution from the three-gluon correlation functions to the QCD collinear evolution of the twist-3 Qiu-Sterman function.