dybdeinelastisk

Dybdeinelastisk, often abbreviated as DIS, is a term used in particle physics to describe scattering experiments where a high-energy lepton, such as an electron or muon, probes the internal structure of a hadron, like a proton or neutron. The key characteristic of deep inelastic scattering is that the lepton transfers a significant amount of energy and momentum to the hadron, leading to its break-up. This allows physicists to investigate the constituents of the hadron, which are believed to be point-like particles called quarks and gluons.

In DIS experiments, the energy transfer is large enough that the hadron is not observed as an intact particle after the interaction. Instead, it breaks apart into a spray of other particles, known as a hadronic jet. The scattered lepton, on the other hand, is detected, and its energy and momentum are measured. By analyzing the properties of the scattered lepton and the resulting hadronic debris, scientists can infer information about the momentum distribution and type of quarks and gluons within the hadron.

The results from deep inelastic scattering experiments in the late 1960s and early 1970s provided crucial evidence for the existence of quarks, a cornerstone of the Standard Model of particle physics. These experiments demonstrated that protons and neutrons are not fundamental particles but are composed of smaller, more fundamental constituents. The study of DIS continues to be an important tool for understanding the strong nuclear force, which binds quarks together to form hadrons.