High-energy inclusive annihilation processes. II. Quantum chromodynamics

A leading logarithm sum is performed for the structure functions for the inclusive e⁺e^- annihilation process in quantum chromodynamics in a class of axial gauges via a Bethe-Salpeter equation. Despite the degeneracies due to the presence of massless constituents, a partonlike space-time picture prevails. The invariant-mass scales for subprocesses are strongly ordered and hadronization takes place only when the energy of the parton is sufficiently attenuated. This leads to the factorization of long- and short-distance phenomena in the moments of the structure functions. The final result is a field-theoretic justification of the Altarelli-Parisi equation.