Parton distributions in the virtual photon target up to NNLO in QCD

Abstract

Parton distributions in the virtual photon target are investigated in perturbative QCD up to the next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO). In the case $\Lambda^2 \ll P^2 \ll Q^2$, where $-Q^2$ ($-P^2$) is the mass squared of the probe (target) photon, parton distributions can be predicted completely up to the NNLO, but they are factorisation-scheme-dependent. We analyse parton distributions in two different factorisation schemes, namely $\bar{\rm MS}$ and ${\rm DIS}_{\gamma}$ schemes, and discuss their scheme dependence. We show that the factorisation-scheme dependence is characterised by the large-$x$ behaviours of quark distributions. Gluon distribution is predicted to be very small in absolute value except in the small-$x$ region.