Massive lepton pair production - the Drell-Yan process - with nuclear targets

Conference · Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1986

OSTI ID:7155432

Berger, E L

The Drell-Yan process, hA ..-->.. (..mu.. anti ..mu..)X, in which a massive lepton-pair is produced inclusively from a nuclear target, offers the possibility for gaining unique insight into the A dependence of the quark and antiquark densities of nuclei, q/sup A/(x,Q/sup 2/) and q/sup -A/(x,Q/sup 2/). Measurements are crucial for testing whether the A dependence of deep-inelastic structure functions, known as the EMC effect, is a universal, process independent property of parton densities. Precise experiments with pion and nucleon beams on nuclear targets would extend knowledge of the A dependence of quark and antiquark densities of nuclei into important intervals of the fractional longitudinal momentum variable x which are not accessible easily in deep inelastic scattering. Model constructed to interpret the EMC effect are used to obtain predictions for the A dependence of massive lepton pair production. For tests of quantum chromodynamics, isolating nuclear dependence is necessary before definite conclusions can be drawn on the behavior of the pion structure function and on the magnitude and kinematic variation of predicted higher order terms (K factor). I indicate the sensitive regions of phase space and the increased level of experimental precision which is needed if a contribution is to be made to isolating the A dependence of quark and antiquark densities from the Drell-Yan process. 12 refs., 2 figs.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31-109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 7155432
• Report Number(s): ANL-HEP-CP-86-78; CONF-860741-20; ON: DE87001548
• Resource Relation: Conference: International symposium on weak and electromagnetic interactions in nuclei, Heidelberg, F.R. Germany, 1 Jul 1986
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
HEAVY LEPTONS
PAIR PRODUCTION
ANTIPROTON REACTIONS
DRELL MODEL
INCLUSIVE INTERACTIONS
PION REACTIONS
PROTON REACTIONS
ANTINUCLEON REACTIONS
BARYON REACTIONS
CHARGED-PARTICLE REACTIONS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FERMIONS
HADRON REACTIONS
INTERACTIONS
LEPTONS
MESON REACTIONS
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
NUCLEON REACTIONS
PARTICLE INTERACTIONS
POSTULATED PARTICLES
645102* - High Energy Physics- Particle Interactions & Properties-Experimental- Weak Interactions & Properties