Quantum-chromodynamic corrections to deep-inelastic Compton scattering

Abstract

Deep-inelastic Compton scattering is a potentially useful source of information concerning the short-distance structure of hadrons. We present here results for several types of corrections to the basic Compton subprocess. Contributions from subprocesses involving photon distribution and fragmentation functions are shown to be small in the high-${p}_{T}$ region in the leading-logarithm approximation. The next-to-leading-order corrections from the subprocesses $\ensuremath{\gamma}q\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\gamma}\mathrm{qg}$ and $\ensuremath{\gamma}g\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\gamma}q\overline{q}$ are also calculated and found to be small over a wide rapidity range for large ${p}_{T}$ values. These small corrections suggest that the deep-inelastic Compton process will indeed be a useful reaction to measure.