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Title: How Bright is the Proton? A Precise Determination of the Photon Parton Distribution Function

Abstract

It has become apparent in recent years that it is important, notably for a range of physics studies at the Large Hadron Collider, to have accurate knowledge on the distribution of photons in the proton. We show how the photon parton distribution function (PDF) can be determined in a model-independent manner, using electron-proton (ep) scattering data, in effect viewing the ep → e + X process as an electron scattering off the photon field of the proton. To this end, we consider an imaginary, beyond the Standard Model process with a flavor changing photon-lepton vertex. We write its cross section in two ways: one in terms of proton structure functions, the other in terms of a photon distribution. Requiring their equivalence yields the photon distribution as an integral over proton structure functions. As a result of the good precision of ep data, we constrain the photon PDF at the level of 1%–2% over a wide range of momentum fractions.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4]
  1. Univ. of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA (United States). Dept. of Physics; European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva (Switzerland). Theoretical Physics Dept.
  2. Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Milano (Italy)
  3. European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva (Switzerland). Theoretical Physics Dept.; National Centre for Scientific Research-Mixed Organizations (CNRS-UMR), Paris (France)
  4. European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva (Switzerland). Theoretical Physics Dept.; Univ. of Oxford (United Kingdom). Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP); European Research Council (ERC); Simons Foundation; National Science Foundation (NSF)
OSTI Identifier:
1335720
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1423952
Grant/Contract Number:  
sc0009919; 614577; 321133; 340281; NSF PHY11-25915
Resource Type:
Published Article
Journal Name:
Physical Review Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Volume: 117 Journal Issue: 24; Journal ID: ISSN 0031-9007
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS

Citation Formats

Manohar, Aneesh, Nason, Paolo, Salam, Gavin P., and Zanderighi, Giulia. How Bright is the Proton? A Precise Determination of the Photon Parton Distribution Function. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.242002.
Manohar, Aneesh, Nason, Paolo, Salam, Gavin P., & Zanderighi, Giulia. How Bright is the Proton? A Precise Determination of the Photon Parton Distribution Function. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.242002
Manohar, Aneesh, Nason, Paolo, Salam, Gavin P., and Zanderighi, Giulia. Fri . "How Bright is the Proton? A Precise Determination of the Photon Parton Distribution Function". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.242002.
@article{osti_1335720,
title = {How Bright is the Proton? A Precise Determination of the Photon Parton Distribution Function},
author = {Manohar, Aneesh and Nason, Paolo and Salam, Gavin P. and Zanderighi, Giulia},
abstractNote = {It has become apparent in recent years that it is important, notably for a range of physics studies at the Large Hadron Collider, to have accurate knowledge on the distribution of photons in the proton. We show how the photon parton distribution function (PDF) can be determined in a model-independent manner, using electron-proton (ep) scattering data, in effect viewing the ep → e + X process as an electron scattering off the photon field of the proton. To this end, we consider an imaginary, beyond the Standard Model process with a flavor changing photon-lepton vertex. We write its cross section in two ways: one in terms of proton structure functions, the other in terms of a photon distribution. Requiring their equivalence yields the photon distribution as an integral over proton structure functions. As a result of the good precision of ep data, we constrain the photon PDF at the level of 1%–2% over a wide range of momentum fractions.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.242002},
journal = {Physical Review Letters},
number = 24,
volume = 117,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Dec 09 00:00:00 EST 2016},
month = {Fri Dec 09 00:00:00 EST 2016}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
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https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.242002

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Cited by: 187 works
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