The Parton Structure of the Proton: Present Status and Future Perspectives

by James STIRLING (Durham University)

Wednesday 4 Aug 1999, 14:00 → 15:30 Europe/Zurich

TH Auditorium (CERN)

The short-distance quark and gluon structure of the proton can be quantified in terms of parton distributions functions, f_i(x,Q²). At present, the most precise information on these functions comes from a global fit to a wide variety of high-energy lepton-hadron and hadron-hadron collision data. I will review the current knowledge on parton distribution functions, and show how they reveal an interesting non-perturbative structure to the quark-antiquark sea which is not fully understood. I will also discuss the role of parton distribution functions at the LHC.