From Deep Inelastic Scattering to Photoproduction: A Unified Approach

Abstract

The strikingly different high energy behaviours of real photoabsorption cross-sections with Q^2 = 0 and the low x proton structure function at large Q^2 are studied from a laboratory frame viewpoint, in which the x and Q^2 dependence reflects the space-time structure of the interaction. This is done using a simple model which incorporates hadron dominance, but attributes the striking enhancement observed at HERA at very low x and high Q^2 to contributions from heavy long-lived fluctuations of the incoming photon. Earlier published predictions of the model for the then unknown behaviour of the structure function at small x and intermediate Q^2 are shown to be strikingly confirmed by recent experimental data. A simultaneous analysis of real photoabsorption data and structure function data for 0 <= x < 0.1 and 0 <= Q^2 <= 15 GeV^2 is then reported. An excellent fit is obtained, with all parameters in the restricted ranges allowed by other physical requirements.

23 pages, LaTex, 11 figures, Submitted to Physical Review

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Structure Functions of the Nucleon and their Interpretation
• Extracting the dipole cross-section from photo- and electro-production total cross-section data
• The QCD description of diffractive processes
• Partonic Picture of Nuclear Shadowing at Small x
• Nuclear shadowing and rho photoproduction
• Hadron formation in high energy photonuclear reactions
• A Unified Model of Exclusive ${\rho }^0$, $\varphi$ and $\jpsi$ Electroproduction
• Nuclear shadowing in deep inelastic scattering on nuclei at very small x
• Vector meson dominance and deep inelastic scattering at low and medium Q squared