Deep Inelastic e-gamma Scattering at High Q2

TL;DR

This paper explores the structure functions of the photon in deep inelastic electron-photon scattering at high Q2, highlighting the potential to distinguish quark content via electroweak interactions at future colliders.

Contribution

It introduces a method to study the photon’s quark content through high Q2 deep inelastic scattering, incorporating electroweak effects at high energies.

Findings

Electroweak effects become significant at high Q2.

Neutral- and charged-current processes reveal different quark contents.

Potential to measure photon structure functions at future colliders.

Abstract

The electromagnetic and weak structure functions of the photon can be studied in the deep inelastic electron-photon processes e+gamma -> e+X and e+gamma -> nu+X. While at low energies only virtual photon exchange is operative in the neutral-current process, additional Z-exchange becomes relevant for high Q2 of order MZ^2 at e+e- linear colliders. Likewise the charged-current process can be observed at these high energy colliders. By measuring the electroweak neutral- and charged-current structure functions, the up- and down-type quark content of the photon can be determined separately.