A high statistics measurement of the nucleon structure function F2(x,Q2) from deep inelastic muon-carbon scattering at high Q2

Abstract We present results from a high statistics study of the nucleon structure function F 2 ( x , Q 2 ) measured in deep inelastic scattering of muons on carbon in the kinematic range 0.25⩽ x ⩽0.80 and Q 2 ⩾25 GeV 2 . The analysis is based on 1.5×10 6 reconstructed events recorded at beam energies of 120, 200 and 280 GeV. R = σ L / σ T is found to be independent of x in the range 0.25⩽ x ⩽0.07 and 40 GeV 2 ⩽ Q 2 ⩽200 GeV 2 with a mean value R =0.015±0.013 ( stat ) ±0.026 (syst.).