Transverse polarization of the nucleon in parton picture

The protonʼs transverse polarization structure is examined in terms of the Lorentz-covariant Pauli–Lubanski vector in QCD. We find that there are contributions from leading, subleading, and next-to-subleading partonic contributions in the light-front system of coordinates. The subleading and next-to-subleading contributions are related to the leading one through Lorentz symmetry. And the leading contribution obeys a simple partonic angular momentum sum rule that gives a clear physical interpretation to a relation known previously.