Nonlinear terms from GLR-MQ evolution

Abstract

The nonlinear corrections to the gluon distribution are found to play an increasingly important role compared to the singlet distribution with respect to the saturation exponent at small x. The nonlinear corrections for the singlet and gluon distributions are important in a limited range of \(Q^2\) and are independent of the upward and downward evolutions. This allows us to single out the region where the nonlinear corrections may provide evidence for recombination. We numerically study the nonlinear terms for nuclear singlet and gluon distributions and quantify the impact of gluon recombination in a wide range of \(Q^2\). This analysis indicates that the nonlinear effects are most pronounced for heavy nuclei and are sizable at \(2 \lesssim Q^2\lesssim 20~\textrm{GeV}^2\) for light and heavy nuclei.