RTG Seminar MSc. Luigi Di Marino and MSc. Sina Aktas
05/18/2026The next seminar for our Research Training Group will be on May 21 at 2:15 p.m. The speakers are MSc. Luigi Di Marino and MSc. Sina Aktas.
MSc. MSc. Luigi Di Marino and MSc. Sina Aktas, JMU
Title: An Introduction to Parton Distribution Functions
21. May 2026 - Physik West SE 22.00.017 - 2:15 p.m.
Parton Distribution Functions (PDFs) describe the internal structure of the proton in terms of quarks, antiquarks, and gluons carrying different fractions of the proton momentum at a given factorization scale. They are essential for predicting processes in hadron collisions, where the hard interaction occurs between partons rather than between protons. In this presentation, we introduce why PDFs are needed and discuss the QCD factorization framework, which separates non-perturbative proton structure from perturbatively calculable hard scattering. We then explain how lepton–proton collisions are used to study deep inelastic scattering (DIS). We also discuss how DIS, Drell–Yan production, jets, and electroweak boson production provide complementary constraints on PDFs.
