Multiperipheral cluster model for deep-inelastic scattering

A multiperipheral cluster model for deep-inelastic scattering is constructed. The model is a possible realization of the Chou-Yang picture. The "pulverization products" of the virtual probe form a single cluster, whose decay is described by the statistical bootstrap model of Hagedorn and Frautschi. The remaining "fragmentation products" of the proton are assumed to have a multiperipheral cluster structure typical of ordinary hadron collisions. In order to obtain Bjorken scaling in deep-inelastic electron scattering, the pulverization cluster must have a mass of order ${\left(Q^2\right)}^{\frac{1}{2}}$; deep-inelastic experiments probe the mass dependence of the cluster vertex functions. Deep-inelastic hadron scattering should give final-state distributions similar to those in deep-inelastic electron scattering. The crucial test of the model will be a search for single-cluster production at small $\omega$.