Proton and deuteron structure functions in muon scattering at 470 GeV

The proton and deuteron structure functions Fp2 and Fd2 are measured in inelastic muon scattering with an average beam energy of 470 GeV. The data were taken at Fermilab experiment E665 during 1991 and 1992 using liquid hydrogen and deuterium targets. The F2 measurements are reported in the range 0.0008<x<0.6 and 0.2<Q2<75 GeV2. These are the first precise measurements of F2 in the low x and Q2 range of the data. In the high x range of the data where they overlap in x and Q2 with the measurements from NMC, the two measurements are in agreement. The E665 data also overlap in x with the DESY HERA data, and there is a smooth connection in Q2 between the two data sets. At high Q2 the E665 measurements are consistent with QCD-evolved leading twist structure function models. The data are qualitatively described by structure function models incorporating the hadronic nature of the photon at low Q2. The Q2 and the W dependence of the data measure the transition in the nature of the photon between a pointlike probe at high Q2 and a hadronic object at low Q2. copyright 1996 The American Physical Society