Limits on Lorentz Violation from the Highest Energy Cosmic Rays

We place several new limits on Lorentz violating effects, which can modify particles' dispersion relations, by considering the highest energy cosmic rays observed. Since these are hadrons, this involves considering the partonic content of such cosmic rays. We get a number of bounds on differences in maximum propagation speeds, which are typically bounded at the 10^{-21} level, and on momentum dependent dispersion corrections of the form v = 1 +- p^2/Lambda^2, which typically bound Lambda > 10^{21} GeV, well above the Planck scale. For (CPT violating) dispersion correction of the form v = 1 + p/Lambda, the bounds are up to 15 orders of magnitude beyond the Planck scale.Comment: 24 pages, no figures. Added references, very slight changes. Version published in Physical Review

Parton distribution functions from the precise NNLO QCD fit

We report the parton distribution functions (PDFs) determined from the NNLO QCD analysis of the world inclusive DIS data with account of the precise NNLO QCD corrections to the evolution equations kernel. The value of strong coupling constant \alpha_s^{NNLO}(M_Z)=0.1141(14), in fair agreement with one obtained using the earlier approximate NNLO kernel by van Neerven-Vogt. The intermediate bosons rates calculated in the NNLO using obtained PDFs are in agreement to the latest Run II results.Comment: 8 pages, LATEX, 2 figures (EPS

Next-to-next-to-leading order fits to CCFR'97 xF3xF_3 data and infrared renormalons

We briefly summarize the outcomes of our recent improved fits to the experimental data of CCFR collaboration for $xF_3$ structure function of $\nu N$ deep-inelastic scattering at the next-to-next-to-leading order. Special attention is paid to the extraction of $\alpha_s(M_Z)$ and the parameter of the infrared renormalon model for $1/Q^2$-correction at different orders of perturbation theory. The results can be of interest for planning similar studies using possible future data of Neutrino Factories.Comment: 3 pages, presented at WG3 of 4th NuFact'02 Workshop, London 1-6 July, 200

NNLO corrections to massive lepton-pair production in longitudinally polarized proton-proton collisions

We present the full next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) coefficient functions for the polarized cross section $d\Delta \sigma/dQ$ for the Drell-Yan process $p + p\to l^+l^- + 'X'$. Here $'X'$ denotes any inclusive hadronic state and $Q$ represents the invariant mass of the lepton pair. All QCD partonic subprocesses have been included provided the lepton pair is created by a virtual photon, which is a valid approximation for $Q<50$ GeV. Unlike the differential distribution w.r.t. transverse momentum the dominant subprocess for the integrated cross section is given by $q+\bar q \to \gamma^* + 'X'$ and its higher order corrections so that massive lepton pair production provides us with an excellent tool to measure the polarized anti-quark densities. Our calculations are carried out using the method of $n$-dimensional regularization by making a special choice for the $\gamma_5$ matrix. We give predictions for double longitudinal spin asymmetry measurements at the RHIC.Comment: 45 pages, 22 figures. Due to a bug in our program the mass factorization plots in fig. 8-11 are changed. All parton density sets, in particular the set BB1 (J. Blumlein, H. Bottcher), lead to an improvement in the scale dependence while going from LO to NLO and then to NNL

The 16th Moment of the Non--Singlet Structure Functions F2(x,Q2)F_2(x,Q^2) and FL(x,Q2)F_L(x,Q^2) to O(αs3)O(\alpha_s^3)

We present the results of an analytic next--to--next--to leading order QCD calculation of the non--singlet anomalous dimension $\gamma_{\rm NS}^+(N)$ and the coefficient functions $C_{2,L}(N)$ associated to the deeply inelastic structure functions $F_2(x,Q^2)$ and $F_L(x,Q^2)$ for the Mellin moment N=16. Comparisons are made with results in the literature.Comment: 11 pages, 1 style file, 1 figur

Parton distributions from deep-inelastic-scattering data

We perform the analysis of existing light-targets deep-inelastic-scattering (DIS) data in the leading-order (LO), next-to-leading-order (NLO), and next-to-next-to-leading-order (NNLO) QCD approximations and extract PDFs simultaneously with the value of the strong coupling constant $\alpha_s$ and the high-twist contribution to the structure functions. The main theoretical uncertainties and experimental uncertainties due to all sources of experimental errors in data are estimated, the latter generally dominate for the obtained PDFs. The uncertainty in Higgs boson production cross section due to errors in PDFs is $\sim 2$% for the LHC and varies from 2% to 10% for the Fermilab collider under variation of the Higgs boson mass from $100 {\rm GeV}$ to $300 {\rm GeV}$. For the $W$-boson production cross section the uncertainty is $\sim 2$% for the both colliders. The value of $\alpha^{\rm NNLO}_{\rm s}(M_{\rm Z})=0.1143\pm 0.0014({\rm exp.})$ is obtained, while the high-twist terms do not vanish up to the NNLO as required by comparison to data

Spin structure of the nucleon: QCD evolution, lattice results and models

The question how the spin of the nucleon is distributed among its quark and gluon constituents is still a subject of intense investigations. Lattice QCD has progressed to provide information about spin fractions and orbital angular momentum contributions for up- and down-quarks in the proton, at a typical scale \mu^2~4 GeV^2. On the other hand, chiral quark models have traditionally been used for orientation at low momentum scales. In the comparison of such model calculations with experiment or lattice QCD, fixing the model scale and the treatment of scale evolution are essential. In this paper, we present a refined model calculation and a QCD evolution of lattice results up to next-to-next-to-leading order. We compare this approach with the Myhrer-Thomas scenario for resolving the proton spin puzzle.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, equation (9) has been corrected leading to a revised figure 1b. Revision matches published versio