Collinear factorization for deep inelastic scattering structure functions at large Bjorken xB

Abstract

We examine the uncertainty of perturbative QCD factorization for hadron structure functions in deep inelastic scattering at a large value of the Bjorken variable xB. We analyze the target mass correction to the structure functions by using the collinear factorization approach in the momentum space. We express the long distance physics of structure functions and the leading target mass corrections in terms of parton distribution functions with the standard operator definition. We compare our result with existing work on the target mass correction. We also discuss the impact of a final-state jet function on the extraction of parton distributions at large fractional momentum x.