Status of Global QCD Analysis and the Parton Structure of the Nucleon

Abstract

The current status of global QCD analysis of parton distribution functions of the nucleon is reviewed. Recent progress made in determining various features of the parton structure of the nucleon, as well as outstanding open questions are discussed. These include: the small-$x$ and large-$x$ behavior of the partons, particularly the gluon; the differentiation of $u$ and $d$ quarks; the strangeness sea ($s+\bar{s}$), the strangeness asymmetry ($s-\bar{s}$); and the heavy quark distributions $c$ and $b$. Important issues about assessing the uncertainties of parton distributions and their physical predictions are considered. These developments are all critical for the physics programs of HERA II, Tevatron Run II, RHIC, and LHC.

Comments: 10 pages, Latex, dis04.cls, to be published in the Proceedings of "Deep Inelastic Scattering (DIS) and Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD)"