Future Precision Measurements $F_2(x,Q^2)$, $\hat{I}{\pm }_S(Q^2)$ and $xg(x,Q^2)$ at HERA

Abstract

The results are presented of a study of the accuracy one may achieve at HERA in measuring the strong coupling constant $\hat{I}{\pm }_s$ and the gluon distribution $xg(x,Q^2)$ using future data of the structure function $F_2(x,Q^2)$ which are estimated to be accurate at the few % level over the full accessible kinematic region down to $x\simeq 10^{-5}$ and up to $Q^2\simeq 50000Ge{V}^2$. The analysis includes simulated proton and deuteron data, and the effect of combining HERA data with fixed target data is discussed.

20 pages Latex, including 7 ps-figures. To appear in: Proc. of the 1996 HERA Physics Workshop