Parton Distributions of the Proton

A. D. Martin, R. G. Roberts, W. J. Stirling

Published 1994-06-15Version 1

To obtain improved parton densities of the proton, we present a new global analysis of deep inelastic and related data including, in particular, the recent measurements of $F_2$ at HERA, of the asymmetry of the rapidity distributions of $W^\pm$ production at the FNAL $pp$ collider and of the asymmetry in Drell-Yan production in $pp$ and $pn$ collisions. We also incorporate data to determine the flavour dependence of the quark sea distributions. We find that the behaviour of the partons at small $x$ is consistent with the precocious onset of BFKL leading $\log(1/x)$ dynamics. We discuss the ambiguities remaining in the gluon distribution. We present improved predictions for $W$ boson (and $t$ quark) production at the FNAL $\pp$ collider.