The Description of $F_2$ at Very High Parton Densities

Abstract

The behavior of the structure function at high energies (high densities) is directly associated to the gluon distribution. In this paper we analyze the asymptotic behavior of the structure function at very high densities considering a leading and a higher twist relation between these two quantities. We verify that (a) if the leading twist relation between the structure function and the gluon distribution is used, we recover the black disc limit, and (b) a softer behavior is predicted if a higher twist relation between $F_2$ and $xG$ is considered. While the first behavior is well-established by the current high density approaches, the higher twist behavior is a new result. In both cases, the $F_2$ structure function unitarizes and the Froissart boundary is not violated in the asymptotic regime of high density QCD.