Determination of nuclear parton distribution functions and their uncertainties at next-to-leading order

Journal Article · Sat Dec 15 00:00:00 EST 2007 · Physical Review. C, Nuclear Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVC.76.065207· OSTI ID:21068005

Hirai, M ^[1]; Kumano, S ^[2]; Nagai, T -H ^[3]

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1. Department of Physics, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 152-8550 (Japan)
2. Institute of Particle and Nuclear Studies, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), 1-1, Ooho, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0801 (Japan)
3. Department of Particle and Nuclear Studies, Graduate University for Advanced Studies, 1-1, Ooho, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0801 (Japan)

Nuclear parton distribution functions (NPDFs) are determined by global analyses of experimental data on structure-function ratios F{sub 2}{sup A}/F{sub 2}{sup A'} and Drell-Yan cross-section ratios {sigma}{sub DY}{sup A}/{sigma}{sub DY}{sup A'}. The analyses are done in the leading order (LO) and next-to-leading order (NLO) of running coupling constant {alpha}{sub s}. Uncertainties of the NPDFs are estimated in both LO and NLO for finding possible NLO improvement. Valence-quark distributions are well determined, and antiquark distributions are also determined at x<0.1. However, the antiquark distributions have large uncertainties at x>0.2. Gluon modifications cannot be fixed at this stage. Although the advantage of the NLO analysis, in comparison with the LO one, is generally the sensitivity to the gluon distributions, gluon uncertainties are almost the same in the LO and NLO. It is because current scaling-violation data are not accurate enough to determine precise nuclear gluon distributions. Modifications of the PDFs in the deuteron are also discussed by including data on the proton-deuteron ratio F{sub 2}{sup D}/F{sub 2}{sup p} in the analysis. A code is provided for calculating the NPDFs and their uncertainties at given x and Q{sup 2} in the LO and NLO.

• OSTI ID: 21068005
• Journal Information: Physical Review. C, Nuclear Physics, Vol. 76, Issue 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevC.76.065207; (c) 2007 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0556-2813
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
ANTIQUARKS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COUPLING CONSTANTS
CROSS SECTIONS
DEUTERONS
DISTRIBUTION
DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONS
DRELL MODEL
FOUR MOMENTUM TRANSFER
GLUONS
PARTICLE KINEMATICS
PROTONS
STRUCTURE FUNCTIONS
VALENCE