Large Transverse Momentum Jet Production and the Gluon Distribution inside the Proton

The CDF experiment has reported an excess of high- $p_t$ jets compared to previous next-to-leading order QCD expectations. Before attributing this to new physics effects, we investigate whether these high- $p_t$ jets can be explained by a modified gluon distribution inside the proton. We find enough flexibility in a global QCD analysis including the CDF inclusive jet data to provide a (25 – 35)% increase in the jet cross sections at the highest $p_t$ of the experiment. Two possible sets of parton distributions are presented, and the effects of these on other existing data sets are presented. Further theoretical and experimental work needed to clarify unresolved issues is outlined.