On the longitudinal structure function in the dipole model

Abstract

We compare new HERA data for the longitudinal structure function $F_{\rm L}$ with the predictions of different variants of the dipole model. In particular we show that the ratio $F_{\rm L}/F_2$ is well described by the dipole models and is rather insensitive to the details of the fit. Fits to $F_2$ are performed with the help of geometrical scaling (GS). Using the property of GS we derive the bounds for $F_{\rm L}/F_2$ both for the different versions of the dipole model and in the general case. Finally we briefly discuss how the higher Fock components of the photon wave function may affect these bounds.