Small-x Behavior of Parton Distributions from the Observed Froissart Energy Dependence of the Deep-Inelastic-Scattering Cross Sections

Journal Article · Fri Dec 22 04:00:00 EST 2006 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.97.252003· OSTI ID:20861516

Block, M M ^[1]; Berger, Edmond L ^[2]; Tan, Chung-I ^[3]

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1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208 (United States)
2. High Energy Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439 (United States)
3. Physics Department, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912 (United States)

We fit the reduced cross section for deep-inelastic electron scattering data to a three parameter ln{sup 2}s fit, A+{beta}ln{sup 2}(s/s{sub 0}), where s=(Q{sup 2}/x)(1-x)+m{sup 2}, and Q{sup 2} is the virtuality of the exchanged photon. Over a wide range in Q{sup 2} (0.11{<=}Q{sup 2}{<=}1200 GeV{sup 2}) all of the fits satisfy the logarithmic energy dependence of the Froissart bound. We can use these results to extrapolate to very large energies and hence to very small values of Bjorken x--well beyond the range accessible experimentally. As Q{sup 2}{yields}{infinity}, the structure function F{sub 2}{sup p}(x,Q{sup 2}) exhibits Bjorken scaling, within experimental errors. We obtain new constraints on the behavior of quark and antiquark distribution functions at small x.

• OSTI ID: 20861516
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 25 Vol. 97; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
CROSS SECTIONS
DEEP INELASTIC SCATTERING
DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONS
ELECTRON DIFFRACTION
ELECTRONS
ENERGY DEPENDENCE
ERRORS
PHOTONS
QUARKS
STRUCTURE FUNCTIONS