Scaling Laws for Large Momentum Transfer Processes

Dimensional scaling laws are developed as an approach to understanding the energy dependence of high energy scattering processes at fixed center-ofmass angle. Given a reasonable assumption on the short distance behavior of bound states, and the absence of an internal mass scale, we show that at large s and t, do/dt (AB -t CD) Q s -n-i-2 f(t/s); n is the total number of fields in A,B,C and D which carry a finite fraction of the momentum. A similar scaling law is obtained for large pI inclusive scattering. When the quark model is used to specify n, we find good agreement with experiments. For instance, this accounts naturally for the 2 -2 (q ) asymptotic behavior of the proton form factor. We examine in detail the field theoretic foundations of the scaling laws and the assumption which needs to be made about the short distance and infrared behavior of a bound state. (Submitted to Fhys. Rev.) *Work supported in part by the U, S, Atomic Energy Commission. Prepared under Contract AT(_11-11-68 for the San Francisco Operations Office, U. S, Atomic