On parton number fluctuations at various stages of the rapidity evolution

Starting with the interpretation of parton evolution with rapidity as a branching-diffusion process, we describe the different kinds of fluctuations of the density of partons which affect the properties of QCD scattering amplitudes at moderately high energies. We then derive some of these properties as direct consequences of the stochastic picture. We get new results on the expression of the saturation scale of a large nucleus, and a modified geometric scaling valid at intermediate rapidities for dipole-dipole scattering.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures. v2: Improved writing; In particular, extended discussion of the dipole-dipole case in Sec. 4. A few misprints corrected. To appear in Phys. Lett.

Phenomenology on the QCD dipole picture revisited

We perform an adjust to the most recent structure function data, considering the QCD dipole picture applied to ep scattering. The structure function F2 at small x and intermediate Q2 can be described by the model containing an economical number of free-parameters, which encodes the hard Pomeron physics. The longitudinal structure function and the gluon distribution are predicted without further adjustments. The data description is effective, whereas a resummed next-to-leading level analysis is deserved.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures. Version to be published in Eur. Phys. J.

QCD saturation in the dipole sector with correlations

In this paper we study the description of saturation in Balitsky, Jalilian-Marian, Iancu, McLerran, Weigert, Leonidov and Kovner (B-JIMWLK) picture when restricted to observables made up only from dipole operators. We derive a functional form of the evolution equation for the dipole probability distribution and find a one-parameter family of exact solutions to the dipole evolution equations.Comment: 9 pages, v2: references and comments added, v3: version to appear in Phys. Lett. B (title changed in journal

Universality and tree structure of high energy QCD

Using non-trivial mathematical properties of a class of nonlinear evolution equations, we obtain the universal terms in the asymptotic expansion in rapidity of the saturation scale and of the unintegrated gluon density from the Balitsky-Kovchegov equation. These terms are independent of the initial conditions and of the details of the equation. The last subasymptotic terms are new results and complete the list of all possible universal contributions. Universality is interpreted in a general qualitative picture of high energy scattering, in which a scattering process corresponds to a tree structure probed by a given source.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

A phenomenological theory giving the full statistics of the position of fluctuating pulled fronts

We propose a phenomenological description for the effect of a weak noise on the position of a front described by the Fisher-Kolmogorov-Petrovsky-Piscounov equation or any other travelling wave equation in the same class. Our scenario is based on four hypotheses on the relevant mechanism for the diffusion of the front. Our parameter-free analytical predictions for the velocity of the front, its diffusion constant and higher cumulants of its position agree with numerical simulations.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Scaling Phenomena in Gravity from QCD

We present holographic arguments to predict properties of strongly coupled gravitational systems in terms of weakly coupled gauge theories. In particular we relate the latest computed value for the Choptuik critical exponent in black hole formation in five dimensions, \gamma_{5D}=0.412 \pm 1%, to the saturation exponent of four-dimensional Yang-Mills theory in the Regge limit, \gamma_{BFKL}\simeq 0.410.Comment: 13 pages. To Pere Pascual, in memoriam. v2: minor changes. Typos corrected and references added. v3: conclusions expanded, references added. To appear in Physics Letters

Diffractive photon dissociation in the saturation regime from the Good and Walker picture

Combining the QCD dipole model with the Good and Walker picture, we formulate diffractive dissociation of a photon of virtuality Q^2 off a hadronic target, in the kinematical regime in which Q is close to the saturation scale and much smaller than the invariant mass of the diffracted system. We show how the obtained formula compares to the HERA data and discuss what can be learnt from such a phenomenology. In particular, we argue that diffractive observables in these kinematics provide useful pieces of information on the saturation regime of QCD.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, revte