A high-statistics measurement of the nucleon structure function F/sub 2/(x,Q/sup 2/) from deep inelastic muon-carbon scattering at high Q/sup 2/

This paper presents results from a high statistics study of the nucleon structure function F/sub 2/(x,Q/sup 2/) in the kinematic range x ≥ 0.25 and Q/sup 2/ ≥ 25 GeV/sup 2/. The analysis is based on 1.5 . 10/sup 6/ reconstructed events recorded at beam energies of 120, 200 and 280 GeV. By comparing data taken at different beam energies, this study finds R= σ/sub L//σ/sub T/ = 0.015 +- 0.013 (stat.) +- 0.026 (syst.) independent of x in the range 0.025 ≤ x ≤ 0.7 and 50 GeV/sup 2/ ≤ q/sup 2/ ≤ 150 GeV/sup 2/. The kinematic range of these data makes them well suited for quantitative tests of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). From next-to-leading order nonsinglet fit, we find a QCD mass scale parameter Λ/sub M-barS-bar/ = 220 +- 20 (stat.) +- 60 (syst.) MeV