The structure of the nucleon is studied by means of deep-inelastic neutrino-nucleon scattering at high energies through the weak neutral current. The neutrino-nucleon scattering events were observed in a 340-metric-ton fine-grained calorimeter exposed to a narrow-band (dichromatic) neutrino beam at Fermilab. The data sample after analysis cuts consists of 9200 charged-current and 3000 neutral-current neutrino and antineutrino events. The neutral-current valence and sea nucleon structure functions are extracted from the x distribution reconstructed from the measured angle and energy of the recoil-hadron shower and the incident narrow-band neutrino-beam energy. They are compared to those extracted from charged-current events analyzed as neutral-current events. It is shown that the nucleon structure is independent of the type of neutrino interaction, which confirms an important aspect of the standard model. The data are also used to determine the value of sin2θW=0.238±0.013±0.015±0.010 for a single-parameter fit, where the first error is from statistical sources, the second from experimental systematic errors, and the third from estimated theoretical errors.
The ratio of the deuteron to proton structure functions is measured at very small Bjorken x (down to 10–6) and for Q2>0.001 GeV2 from scattering of 470 GeV muons on liquid hydrogen and deuterium targets. The ratio F2n/F2p extracted from these measurements is found to be constant, at a value of 0.935±0.008±0.034, for x<0.01. This result suggests the presence of nuclear shadowing effects in the deuteron. The dependence of the ratio on Q2 is also examined; no significant variation is found.
The proton and deuteron structure functions F2p and F2d are measured in inelastic muon scattering with an average beam energy of 470 GeV. The data were taken at Fermilab experiment E665 during 1991 and 1992 using liquid hydrogen and deuterium targets. The F2 measurements are reported in the range 0.0008<x<0.6 and 0.2<Q2<75 GeV2. These are the first precise measurements of F2 in the low x and Q2 range of the data. In the high x range of the data where they overlap in x and Q2 with the measurements from NMC, the two measurements are in agreement. The E665 data also overlap in x with the DESY HERA data, and there is a smooth connection in Q2 between the two data sets. At high Q2 the E665 measurements are consistent with QCD-evolved leading twist structure function models. The data are qualitatively described by structure function models incorporating the hadronic nature of the photon at low Q2. The Q2 and the W dependence of the data measure the transition in the nature of the photon between a pointlike probe at high Q2 and a hadronic object at low Q2.
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