Heavy Quark Mass Effects in PQCD and Heavy Flavor Parton Distributions

TL;DR

This paper discusses the incorporation of heavy quark mass effects into perturbative QCD analyses, compares theoretical predictions with experimental data on charm production, and explores the concept of intrinsic charm in the nucleon.

Contribution

It introduces a systematic method for including heavy quark masses in global QCD analyses and examines their impact on charm production data and intrinsic charm hypotheses.

Findings

Heavy quark mass effects significantly influence DIS charm production predictions.

The analysis suggests possible evidence for intrinsic charm in the nucleon.

Determining the charm quark mass is crucial for accurate global fits.

Abstract

The systematic treatment of heavy quark mass effects in DIS in current CTEQ global analysis is summarized. Applications of this treatment to the comparison between theory and experimental data on DIS charm production are described. The possibility of intrinsic charm in the nucleon is studied. The issue of determining the charm mass in global analysis is discussed.