Interpreting virtual photon interactions in terms of parton distribution functions

Abstract

Interactions of virtual photons are analyzed in terms of photon structure. It is argued that the concept of parton distribution functions is phenomenologically very useful even for highly virtual photons involved in hard collisions. This claim is illustrated on leading order expressions for $F_2^{\gamma}(x,P^2,Q^2)$ and effective parton distribution function $D_{\mathrm eff}(x,P^2,Q^2)$ relevant for jet production, as well as within the next-to-leading order QCD calculations of jet cross-sections in electron-proton collisions.