small-xB deep-inelastic scattering

The existing data obtained in deep-inelastic scattering (DIS) experiments in the kinematical region xB ≤ 10 −2 and Q ≥ 5 GeV are examined to gain insight into the dynamics of interacting gluons. It is shown that the striking experimental facts observed in this kinematical region can be readily understood in terms of concepts and methods of Complex Systems in the framework of Non-Perturbative QCD. It is pointed out in particular, that not only the regularities observed in diffractive scattering and those found in in large-transverse-momentum jet production, but also the striking features of the structure function F2(xB , Q ) observed in normal DISevents can be understood as direct consequences of self-organized criticality. Deep-inelastic lepton-nucleon scattering utilizing electron, muon, and neutrino beams is an extremely useful tool in studying the structure of matter and its interactions. Since the operation of HERA, the first electron-proton collider, the kinematical region of such experiments has been significantly extended. In terms of the difference (q) between the initial and the final four-momenta (k and k) of the electron, and the four momentum (p) of the proton, the kinematical region in which data are now available is: 0 ≤ Q ≤ 9 · 10GeV and 10 ≤ xB ≤ 1, where Q 2 ≡ −q, and xB ≡ −q /(2pq). Physics of deep-inelastic lepton-nucleon scattering (DIS) in the “small-xB region (xB ≤