Parton content of the real photon: astrophysical implications

TL;DR

This paper discusses the non-trivial parton structure of real photons and explores its implications for astrophysics, including calculations of interaction probabilities involving high-energy cosmic microwave background photons.

Contribution

It introduces the application of parton models to real photons in astrophysical contexts, providing new calculations for neutrino-photon interactions.

Findings

Parton content of real photons is experimentally confirmed.

Parton model applied to cosmic photon interactions.

Calculated cross section for neutrino-photon resonant W+ production.

Abstract

We possess convincing experimental evidence for the fact that the real photon has non-trivial parton structure. On the other hand, interactions of the cosmic microwave background photons with high energy particles propagating through the Universe play an important role in astrophysics. In this context, to invoke the parton content could be convenient for calculations of the probabilities of different processes involving these photons. As an example, the cross section of inclusive resonant $W^+$ boson production in the reaction $\nu \gamma\to W^+X$ is calculated by using the parton language. Neutrino--photon deep inelastic scattering is considered.