Structure Functions are not Parton Probabilities

Abstract

The common view that structure functions measured in deep inelastic lepton scattering are determined by the probability of finding quarks and gluons in the target is not correct in gauge theory. We show that gluon exchange between the fast, outgoing partons and target spectators, which is usually assumed to be an irrelevant gauge artifact, affects the leading twist structure functions in a profound way. This observation removes the apparent contradiction between the projectile (eikonal) and target (parton model) views of diffractive and small x_{Bjorken} phenomena. The diffractive scattering of the fast outgoing quarks on spectators in the target causes shadowing in the DIS cross section. Thus the depletion of the nuclear structure functions is not intrinsic to the wave function of the nucleus, but is a coherent effect arising from the destructive interference of diffractive channels induced by final state interactions. This is consistent with the Glauber-Gribov interpretation of shadowing as a rescattering effect.

35 pages, 8 figures. Discussion of physical consequences of final state interactions amplified. Material on light-cone gauge choices added

References in corpus (5)

• Leading-twist Single-transverse-spin asymmetries: Drell-Yan and Deep-Inelastic Scattering
• Final-State Interactions and Single-Spin Asymmetries in Semi-Inclusive Deep Inelastic Scattering
• Initial-State Interactions and Single-Spin Asymmetries in Drell-Yan Processes
• Nuclear shadowing in deep inelastic scattering on nuclei: leading twist versus eikonal approaches
• Absence of shadowing in Drell-Yan production at finite transverse momentum exchange

Cited by in corpus (107)

• Generalized Parton Distributions
• Unraveling hadron structure with generalized parton distributions
• Leading-twist Single-transverse-spin asymmetries: Drell-Yan and Deep-Inelastic Scattering
• Final state interactions and gauge invariant parton distributions
• Universality of T-odd effects in single spin and azimuthal asymmetries
• Universality of Unintegrated Gluon Distributions at small x
• Forces inside hadrons: pressure, surface tension, mechanical radius, and all that
• Universality of soft and collinear factors in hard-scattering factorization
• Initial-State Interactions and Single-Spin Asymmetries in Drell-Yan Processes
• Parton Distributions in Light-Cone Gauge: Where Are the Final-State Interactions?
• Relations between generalized and transverse momentum dependent parton distributions
• Inclusive quasi-elastic electron-nucleus scattering
• Femto-Photography of Protons to Nuclei with Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering
• Parton Fragmentation Functions
• k_T factorization is violated in production of high-transverse-momentum particles in hadron-hadron collisions
• kt-factorization for Hard Processes in Nuclei
• Extending Soft-Collinear-Effective-Theory to describe hard jets in dense QCD media
• Chiral-odd generalized parton distributions in constituent quark models
• Shadowing and Absorption Effects on J/psi Production in dA Collisions
• The Spin Structure of the Nucleon
• Gluon-Exchange in Spin-Dependent Fragmentation
• Nuclear Antishadowing in Neutrino Deep Inelastic Scattering
• Novel Transversity Properties in Semi-Inclusive Deep Inelastic Scattering
• Wilson lines and transverse-momentum dependent parton distribution functions: A renormalization-group analysis
• Deep Inelastic Electron-Nucleon Scattering at the LHC
• Quark Correlations and Single Spin Asymmetries
• Hadron Spectroscopy and Structure from AdS/CFT
• Nuclear effects in the Drell-Yan process at very high energies
• Nonlinear corrections to the DGLAP equations in view of the HERA data
• Lepton Pair Production Through Two Photon Process in Heavy Ion Collisions
• Hadron Optics in Three-Dimensional Invariant Coordinate Space from Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering
• Helicity-dependent generalized parton distributions in constituent quark models
• Small x physics and RHIC data
• Transverse lattice calculation of the pion light-cone wavefunctions
• A quark model analysis of the Sivers function
• A Unitary and Renormalizable Theory of the Standard Model in Ghost-Free Light-Cone Gauge
• Gluon shadowing in the Glauber-Gribov model at HERA
• Open charm tomography of cold nuclear matter
• A mechanism for the T-odd pion fragmentation function
• Nuclear Shadowing in Electro-Weak Interactions
• Model calculations of the Sivers function satisfying the Burkardt Sum Rule
• Phases of Augmented Hadronic Light-Front Wave Functions
• Puzzles in Hadronic Physics and Novel Quantum Chromodynamics Phenomenology
• Single-Spin Asymmetries in Semi-inclusive Deep Inelastic Scattering and Drell-Yan Processes
• On Unique Predictions for Single Spin Azimuthal Asymmetry
• Transverse Momentum Dependent Parton Distribution/Fragmentation Functions at an Electron-Ion Collider
• Analyzing the Boer-Mulders function within different quark models
• Hard diffraction from parton rescattering in QCD
• Non-Universality of Transverse Momentum Dependent Parton Distributions at Small-x
• Hard probes in heavy ion collisions at the LHC: PDFs, shadowing and $pA$ collisions
• Single Hadronic-Spin Asymmetries in Weak Interaction Processes
• Structure of the nucleon at leading and subleading twist in the covariant parton model
• Nuclear Effects on the Extraction of ${\sin }^2{\theta }_W$
• Generalized Parton Distributions and Color Transparency
• Dynamic versus Static Hadronic Structure Functions
• Ratios of Helicity Amplitudes for Exclusive rho-0 Electroproduction
• Soft-Gluon-Pole Contribution in Single Transverse-Spin Asymmetries of Drell-Yan Processes
• Initial and Final State Interaction Effects in Small-x Quark Distributions
• Single Transverse Spin Asymmetries at Parton Level
• QCD rescattering mechanism for diffractive deep inelastic scattering
• Quark Initial State Interaction in Deep Inelastic Scattering and the Drell-Yan process
• New Results in Light-Front Phenomenology
• Diffractive deep inelastic scattering from multiple soft gluon exchange in QCD
• Modeling quark-hadron duality for relativistic, confined fermions
• Probing the transverse spin of quarks in deep inelastic scattering
• Future of low-x forward physics at RHIC
• Soft Rescattering in DIS: Effects of Helicity Flip
• Recent progress in the understanding of single spin asymmetries
• Diffractive Higgs bosons and prompt photons at hadron colliders
• Absence of shadowing in Drell-Yan production at finite transverse momentum exchange
• Electromagnetic response of confined Dirac particles
• Colour rearrangements in B-meson decays
• Light-Front Holography, Color Confinement, and Supersymmetric Features of QCD
• Light-Front Quantization of Gauge Theories
• Hadron Spectroscopy and Dynamics from Light-Front Holography and Superconformal Algebra
• Collinear Factorization for Single Transverse-Spin Asymmetry in Drell-Yan Processes
• Comments on the Relativity of Shape
• Valence quark distributions in nucleon at low $Q^2$ in QCD
• Light-Front Holography and Novel Effects in QCD
• Light-Front Holography, Light-Front Wavefunctions, and Novel QCD Phenomena
• Low x Scattering as a Critical Phenomenon
• Probing the diffractive production of gauge bosons at forward rapidities
• QCD on the Light-Front -- A Systematic Approach to Hadron Physics
• Hard diffraction -- 20 years later
• Light-Front Holography, AdS/QCD, and Hadronic Phenomena
• Is simultaneous $y$ and $\xi$--scaling in the quasi-elastic region accidental?
• DGLAP analyses of nPDF: constraints from data
• Spacelike and timelike response of confined relativistic particles
• Perturbative Corrections to Quark TMDPDFs in the Background-Field Method: Gauge Invariance, Equations of Motion, and Multiple Interactions
• Left-right asymmetry for pion and kaon production in the semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering process
• Gluon Structure Function of a Color Dipole in the Light-Cone Limit of Lattice QCD
• New Perspectives for QCD: The Novel Effects of Final-State Interactions and Near-Conformal Effective Couplings
• Measuring transverse shape with virtual photons
• Novel QCD Aspects of Hard Diffraction, Antishadowing, and Single-Spin Asymmetries
• Applications of Light-Front QCD
• Generalized Parton Distributions of Pions. Spin Structure of Hadrons
• Quark-nucleon dynamics and Deep Virtual Compton Scattering
• Structure Functions are not Parton Probabilities
• Novel Perspectives for Hadron Physics
• Energy dependence of nuclear effects in hadron-nucleus collisions
• Novel QCD Phenomena at JLab
• Parton Propagation in a Gluon Field
• Non-universality of transverse Coulomb exchange at small x
• Light-Front Quantization and QCD Phenomena
• Novel QCD Effects from Initial and Final State Interactions
• A New Approach to the Gluon Structure Function
• Transversity studies with protons and light nuclei