Leptoproduction of Heavy Quarks in the Fixed and Variable Flavor Schemes

Abstract

We compare the results of the fixed-flavor scheme calculation of Laenen, Riemersma, Smith and van Neerven with the variable-flavor scheme calculation of Aivazis, Collins, Olness and Tung for the case of neutral-current (photon-mediated) heavy-flavor (charm and bottom) production. Specifically, we examine the features of both calculations throughout phase space and compare the structure function $F_2(x,Q^2)$. We also analyze the dependence of $F_2$ on the mass factorization scale $\mu$. We find that the former is most applicable near threshold, while the latter works well for asymptotic $Q^2$. The validity of each calculation in the intermediate region is dependent upon the $x$ and $Q^2$ values chosen.