BFKL versus HERA

The BFKL equation and the kT-factorization theorem are used to obtain predictions for F2 in the small Bjorken-x region over a wide range of Q**2. The dependence on the parameters, especially on those concerning the infrared region, is discussed. After a background fit to recent experimental data obtained at HERA and at Fermilab (E665 experiment), we find that the predicted, almost Q**2 independent BFKL slope lambda >= 0.5 appears to be too steep at lower Q**2 values. Thus there seems to be a chance that future HERA data can distinguish between pure BFKL and conventional field theoretic renormalization group approaches.Comment: 26 pages, 6 eps figures, LaTeX2e using epsfig.sty and amssymb.st