On Deep inelastic Electron-Proton Scattering, the Gluon Density and DGLAP Evolution in the low-x, low-Q² domain

A careful analysis of the experimental data on deep-inelastic scattering (DIS) by themselves, upon extending standard DGLAP evolution into the low-x, low-Q² domain including the frequent 1.9 GeV² starting scale for evolution, reveals inconsistency between the evolution prediction and the experimental results. It is futile to fit experimental data at a low-Q² input scale by unmodified standard evolution. Our result is supported by recent discussions in the literature on the unsatisfactory status of standard fits to the experimental data. The color dipole picture (CDP) quantitatively provides the magnitude of the deviation of standard evolution in the low-x, low Q² domain from experiment.