Unraveling the unintegrated gluon distribution in the proton via $\rho$-meson leptoproduction

Abstract

Sufficiently inclusive processes, like the deep inelastic scattering (DIS), are described in terms of scale-dependent parton distributions, which correspond to the density of partons with a given longitudinal momentum fraction, integrated over the parton transverse momentum. For less inclusive processes, one needs to consider densities unintegrated over the transverse momentum. This work focuses on the unintegrated gluon distribution (UGD), describing the probability that a gluon can be emitted by a colliding proton, with definite longitudinal fraction and transverse momentum. Through the leptoproduction of the $\rho$-meson at HERA, existent models for the UGD will be investigated and compared with experimental data.