A study of the Q[sup 2] dependence of the QCD coupling constant from the transverse momentum of jets in deep inelastic muon scattering. [QCD (quantum chromodynamics)]

Thesis/Dissertation · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1993

OSTI ID:7170656

Conrad, J M

Experiment 665 at Fermilab is the first deep inelastic scattering experiment to obtain data in a kinematic range, where jets can be identified on an event-by-event basis. In this thesis, using the average squared transverse momentum of the jets produced in deep inelastic muon scattering, a quantity is calculated which Perturbative QCD predicts to be equal to [alpha][sub s], the strong coupling constant. The quantity is studied as a function of Q[sup 2], the negative 4-momentum squared of the virtual photon, for 3 < Q[sup 2] < 25GeV[sup 2]. The data are shown to be consistent with the predictions of PQCD with [Lambda][sup n[sub f]=4][sub DIS] = 359 [+-] 31 (stat) [+-] 149 (sys) MeV. However, this may have a significant theoretical error due to uncalculated higher order corrections. This thesis provides a detailed description of the characteristics of the identified jets. The transverse momentum due to fragmentation is measured to be [P[sup 2][sub Tfrag]] = 0.0820 [+-] 0.002 (stat) [+-] 0.005 (sys). Using naive assumptions about the jets, the intrinsic transverse momentum is measured to be [k[sup 2][sub T]] = 0.27 [+-] 0.01 (stat) [+-] 0.03 (sys) GeV[sup 2].

• Research Organization: Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)
• OSTI ID: 7170656
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

662230* -- Quantum Chromodynamics-- (1992-)
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
COUPLING CONSTANTS
DEEP INELASTIC SCATTERING
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FERMIONS
FIELD THEORIES
INELASTIC SCATTERING
INTERACTIONS
JETS
LEPTON-BARYON INTERACTIONS
LEPTON-HADRON INTERACTIONS
LEPTON-NUCLEON INTERACTIONS
LEPTONS
MUONS
PARTICLE INTERACTIONS
QUANTUM CHROMODYNAMICS
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
SCATTERING