Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-particle-physics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2015/1/b/solution
Past exam of the particle physics course of the University of Oxford 2015 1 b Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
Use the parton model, neglect antiquarks, binding and target mass corrections, quark masses, muon mass, QCD scaling violation and the W boson propagator correction. The struck quark is effectively free during the short interaction and carries parton momentum fraction , giving . The charged current reaction is . Its helicity amplitude has the same factor as in a. Define the effective parton distribution function by , summing only kinematically accessible final quarks; for valence-only protons and accessible this is approximately . It is not the unweighted sum .Here is the inclusive deep inelastic scattering variable, and in the scaling limit. Integrating gives , henceThe moment measures the momentum fraction in the active quarks. Approximate linearity is evidence for scattering from pointlike spin-one-half constituents with approximately scale-independent parton distribution functions, rather than coherent scattering from an extended proton. It is an intermediate-energy prediction: thresholds, experimental deep inelastic scattering cuts, QCD scaling violation and eventually the finite W boson propagator modify it.
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