Saturation and universality in QCD at small x

We find approximate solutions to the renormalization group equation which governs the quantum evolution of the effective theory for the Color Glass Condensate. This is a functional Fokker-Planck equation which generates in particular the non-linear evolution equations previously derived by Balitsky and Kovchegov within perturbative QCD. In the limit where the transverse momentum of the external probe is large compared to the saturation momentum, our approximations yield the Gaussian ansatz for the effective action of the McLerran-Venugopalan model. In the opposite limit, of a small external momentum, we find that the effective theory is governed by a scale-invariant universal action which has the correct properties to describe gluon saturation. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.