Eur. Phys. J. C 19, 693-708
DOI: 10.1007/s100520100613

Diffraction at HERA and the confinement problem

J. Bartels¹ and H. Kowalski<sup>2

1</sup>  II. Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Hamburg, 22761 Hamburg, Germany
²  Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron DESY, 22603 Hamburg, Germany

(Received: 7 December 2000 / Published online: 6 April 2001 -© Springer-Verlag 2001)

Abstract
We discuss HERA data on the high energy behavior of the total cross section and on diffraction in deep inelastic scattering. We outline their novelty in comparison with diffraction in high energy hadron-hadron scattering. As a physical picture, we propose an interpretation in terms of QCD radiation at small and large distances: a careful study of the transition between the two extremes represents a new approach to the QCD confinement problem.

© Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag 2001