bachelor_thesis/latex/tex/pdf/pdf_basics.tex

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\section{Parton Density Functions}%
\label{sec:pdf_basics}
Parton Density Functions encode, restricting considerations to leading
order, the probability to \emph{encounter} a constituent parton (quark
or gluon) of a hadron with a certain momentum fraction \(x\) at a
certain factorization scale \(Q^2\). PDFs are normalized according to
\cref{eq:pdf-norm}, where the sum runs over all partons.
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:pdf-norm}
\sum_i\int_0^1x\cdot f_i\qty(x;Q^2) \dd{x} = 1
\end{equation}
PDFs can not be derived from first principles (at the moment) and have
to be determined experimentally for low \(Q^2\) and are evolved to
higher \(Q^2\) through the \emph{DGLAP}
equations~\cite{altarelli:1977af} at different orders of perturbation
theory. In deep inelastic scattering \(Q^2\) is just the negative
over the momentum transfer \(-q^2\). For more complicated processes
\(Q^2\) has to be chosen in a way that reflects the \emph{momentum
resolution} of the process. If the perturbation series behind the
process would be expanded to the exact solution, the dependence on the
factorization scale vanishes. In lower orders, one has to choose the
scale in a \emph{physically meaningful}\footnote{That means: not in
an arbitrary way.} way, which reflects characteristics of the
process~\cite{altarelli:1977af}.
In the case of \(\qqgg\) the mean of the Mandelstam variables \(\hat{t}\)
and \(\hat{u}\), which is equal to \(\hat{s}/2\), can be used. This
choice is lorentz-invariant and reflects the s/u-channel nature of the
process.
The (differential) hadronic cross section for scattering of two
partons in equal hadrons is given in \cref{eq:pdf-xs}. Here \(i,j\)
are the partons participating in a scattering process with the cross
section \(\hat{\sigma}_{ij}\). Usually this cross section depends on
the kinematics and thus the momentum fractions and the factorization
scale\footnote{More appropriately: The factorization scale depends on
the process. So \(\sigma\qty(Q^2)\) is just a symbol for that
relation.}.
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:pdf-xs}
\sigma = \int f_i\qty(x;Q^2) f_j\qty(x;Q^2) \hat{\sigma}_{ij}\qty(x_1,
x_2, Q^2)\dd{x_1}\dd{x_2}
\end{equation}
Summing \cref{eq:pdf-xs} over all partons in the hadron gives
the total scattering cross section for the hadron.
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