Unitarization of Structure Functions at Large $1/x$

Abstract

We discuss the effects of the $s$-channel unitarization on the $x$ and $Q^2$ dependence of structure functions. The unitarization is implemented at the level of photoabsorption cross sections by resorting to the light--cone wave functions of virtual photons and to the diagonalization property of the scattering matrix in a basis of Fock states of the photon with fixed transverse size. Triple pomeron effects are also explicitly taken into account. We find large unitarity corrections to the structure functions at $x<10^{-2}$. The results are in very good agreement with the existing NMC and the preliminary HERA data.

12 pages