Measurement of the nucleon structure functions

Measurements have been made of the inclusive scattering of 96, 147, and 219 GeV muons from hydrogen, and of 147 GeV muons from deuterium. Results are presented for the nucleon structure function F₂(x,Q²) [≡νW₂(x,Q²)] for 10<ν<200 GeV and 0.2<Q²<80 GeV². The value of F₂ rises with Q² at small x, and falls with Q² at large x, in agreement with the ideas of quantum chromodynamics. An average value of the ratio σLσT≡R=0.52±0.35 has been obtained for the region $0.003<x<0.10$ and 0.4<Q²<30 GeV². The values of F₂ from this experiment have been combined with those from other charged-lepton scattering experiments to determine moments of the structure functions. The variation with Q² of these moments is used to derive values for Λ, taking into account corrections up to second order in αₛ. The fit to the data is very good.