Nonlinear corrections to the single differential cross section for neutral current e- p scattering in the NLO approximation

We present the effects of nonlinear corrections to the single differential cross section d sigma/dQ(2) and the reduced cross section sigma(r)(x, Q(2)) for the neutral current e(-) p scattering at the leading order and the next-to-leading order (NLO) approximations in perturbative quantum chromodynamics. Technically, based on the double Laplace transform method, we first derive the effects of the nonlinear corrections to the proton structure functions F-2 (x, Q(2)) and F-L(x, Q(2)) and consequently obtain the corresponding single differential and reduced cross sections. Our results clearly indicate the consistency of the nonlinear behavior of the quark and gluon distributions at low x values. Our numerical results (obtained in a range of the virtuality 8.5 < Q(2) < 5000 GeV2 and the Bjorken scale 10(-5) < x < 1) show that the effects of these nonlinear corrections to the proton structure functions are more noticeable at x < 0.001 and, to some extent, control the incremental trend of these functions at low x values. Moreover, a comparison of our numerical results of the single differential and reduced cross sections at the NLO approximations with those of H1 Collaboration data shows that the nonlinear corrections increase the accuracy of calculations rather than the linear calculations at low to moderate Q(2) values for low x values.

Automated summary

This study investigates the effects of nonlinear corrections on the neutral current electron-proton scattering, showing that these corrections are more pronounced at low x values and partially control the increasing trend of the cross sections. The results also suggest that the nonlinear behavior of quark and gluon distributions is consistent at low x values.