Angular distributions and structure functions from two-jet events at the CERN SPS collider

Abstract The two-jet cross section measured in the UA1 apparatus at the CERN p p Collider has been analysed in terms of the centre-of-mass scattering angle θ and the scaled longitudinal parton momenta x 1 and x 2 . The angular distribution d σ /d cos σ rises rapidly as cos → 1, independent of x 2 and x 2 , as expected in vector gluon theories (QCD). The differential cross section in x 1 and x 2 is consistent with factorization and provides a measurement of the proton structure function F(x) = G(x) + 4 9 [Q(x) + Q (x)] at values of the four-momentum transfer squared, -t ≈ 2000 GeV 2 . Over the range x = 0.10−0.80 the structure function shows an exponential x dependence and may be parametrized by the form F ( x ) = 6.2 exp (−9.5 x ).