The space-time structure of hard scattering processes

Abstract

Recent studies of exclusive electroproduction of vector mesons at JLab make it possible for the first time to play with two independent hard scales: the virtuality Q^2 of the photon, which sets the observation scale, and the momentum transfer t to the hadronic system, which sets the interaction scale. They reinforce the description of hard scattering processes in terms of few effective degrees of freedom relevant to the Jlab-Hermes energy range.Comment: 4 pages; 5 figure