Power corrections in deep inelastic structure functions at large Bjorken x

Abstract

We study power corrections to the spin-averaged structure functions F_2 and F_L in the semi-inclusive region. The dramatic breakdown of the operator product expansion at large Bjorken x due to the formation of a narrow jet with invariant mass W (W^2=Q^2(1-x)/x) calls for an alternative approach. Our main conjecture is that the dominant contribution at each twist is the one which mixes under renormalization with the leading twist (ultraviolet dominance). At twist two the dominant perturbative corrections at large x due to soft and collinear radiation can be factorized into a jet function. From the ultraviolet dominance conjecture it follows that the twist two parton distribution as well as the jet function actually factorize to any order in the twist expansion. This factorization suggests that non-perturbative corrections ~1/W^{2n} exponentiate together with the leading twist. We verify explicitly, at the level of a single dressed gluon, the cancellation between ambiguities due to infrared renormalons in the twist-two coefficient functions and those due to the ultraviolet divergence of twist-four matrix elements. Independently of the renormalon analysis, we show that the dominant contribution to twist four at large x is associated with a twist-two like configuration: the final states are identical to those of twist two, whereas the initial states differ just by additional partons carrying small momentum fractions. This picture is consistent with the ultraviolet dominance conjecture.