Theoretical Considerations on Inelastic Electron Scattering at High Energies

Abstract

Physical arguments are presented for the conjecture that, compared with photoproduction and hadronic production, the difficulty in making large transverse momentum transfers at high energies is much less in electroproduction processes when the virtual photon is far off the mass shell. Model calculations are carried out to verify this result. In particular, in the c.m. systems of the outgoing hadrons, the angular distribution of the vector meson produced by the reactions $e^{-}+p\to e^{-}+p+{\rho }^0$ (or $\varphi$, or $\omega$) is less peaked in the forward direction at high energies when the virtual photon is further off the mass shell. This and other possible experimental tests are discussed. This reduction of the forward peaks also makes electroproduction processes a fertile ground for testing statistical theories of high-energy collisions.