Virtual Compton Scattering on the Proton at High s and Low t

Abstract

Virtual Compton Scattering (VCS) at low transferred momenta to the proton ($t$) and sufficiently high c.m. energies ($s$) may be used to a) study $Q^2$--dependence of leading $t$--channel exchanges and b) look for onset of scaling behavior with increasing $Q^2$. I discuss the implications for perturbative and nonperturbative QCD and suggest possible experiments.