https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-021-09095-8
Regular Article – Theoretical Physics
Analyticity and Regge asymptotics in virtual Compton scattering on the nucleon
Horia Hulubei National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering, POB MG-6, 077125, Bucharest-Magurele, Romania
Received:
15
February
2021
Accepted:
27
March
2021
Published online:
12
April
2021
We test the consistency of the data on the nucleon structure functions with analyticity and the Regge asymptotics of the virtual Compton amplitude. By solving a functional extremal problem, we derive an optimal lower bound on the maximum difference between the exact amplitude and the dominant Reggeon contribution for energies 
above a certain high value 
. Considering in particular the difference of the amplitudes 
for the proton and neutron, we find that the lower bound decreases in an impressive way when is increased, and represents a very small fraction of the magnitude of the dominant Reggeon. While the method cannot rule out the hypothesis of a fixed Regge pole, the results indicate that the data on the structure function are consistent with an asymptotic behaviour given by leading Reggeon contributions. We also show that the minimum of the lower bound as a function of the subtraction constant 
provides a reasonable estimate of this quantity, in a frame similar, but not identical to the Reggeon dominance hypothesis.
© The Author(s) 2021
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