Measurement of Nucleon Structure Function in Muon Scattering at Highq2

Abstract

The nucleon structure function, $F_2$, has been measured up to $q^2=120\mathrm{}$ ${(\mathrm{G}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{V}/\mathit{c})}^2$ and for $40<\mathrm{}{W}^2<300\mathrm{}$ Ge${\mathrm{V}}^2$. The data exhibit a significant pattern of scaling violation. Compared to lower-energy data, $F_2$ shows an observable increase of ∼15% at high $q^2$ for $x<\mathrm{}0.4\mathrm{}$. The pattern of the increase may accommodate a threshold in $W$ or new theoretical parametrizations.