Using HERA Data to Determine the Infrared Behaviour of the BFKL Amplitude

Abstract

We determine the infrared behaviour of the BFKL forward amplitude for gluon-gluon scattering. Our approach, based on the discrete pomeron solution, leads to an excellent description of the new combined inclusive HERA data at low values of x (<0.01) and at the same time determines the unintegrated gluon density inside the proton, for squared transverse momenta of the gluon less than 100 GeV^2. The phases of this amplitude are sensitive to the non-perturbative gluonic dynamics and could be sensitive to the presence of Beyond-the-Standard-Model particles at very high energies.

30 pages, 11 figures. v2: revised version published in Eur. Phys. J. C