A model of deep inelastic polarized electroproduction

Abstract

A realistic phenomenological model combining parton/QCD ideas with lower energy SU(6) constraints is proposed for the shape and evolution of the leading spin-dependent structure function G^ep(x, Q²) in polarized electroproduction. Close's broken-SU(6) ansatz is used to relate appropriately defined polarized quark-parton distribution densities to unpolarized ones at the matching momentum scale Q² = Q₀². The differences between spin and helicity distribution densities as well as the complications due to perturbative QCD and parton k_τ (with related target-mass) effects are taken into account. Evolution to higher ( > 10 GeV²) values of Q² (where target-mass effects can be neglected) yields experimentally testable numerical predictions that are presented through various plots. The value of Q₀ is self-consistently determined to be about 0.5 GeV.