Regge Model with Scale-Invariance for Nucleon Compton Scattering, Electroproduction, and Electron-Positron Annihilation

A Regge model satisfying the requirement of scale invariance is constructed for the Compton amplitude. Using the P, P′, and A2 Regge trajectories, we obtain good fits to the total photon-nucleon cross sections and to the differential cross section dσdt for proton Compton scattering. The model is then applied to electroproduction in the deep-inelastic region and successfully describes the data on the proton and neutron structure functions, the breaking of scale invariance at small -q2 and the behavior of the ratio W2nW2p, as a function of -q2 for fixed hadronic mass squared. Predictions are given for the differential cross section for the crossed-channel process e++e-→proton+hadrons, and it is found that for large q2 the total annihilation cross section behaves as σT≈1q2.