Theory of Vector Meson Production

Abstract

I discuss the theoretical status of the `soft' pomeron and its place in describing generic diffractive processes. The role of perturbative QCD (pQCD) corrections is considered, in particular in the context of quasi-elastic vector meson production at high $Q^2$. In those processes where short distances are dominant, the `hard' (pQCD) pomeron is expected to reveal itself, such a process may well be that of diffractive vector meson production at high-$t$ and I discuss this.

Comments: 9 pages Latex including 5 figures compressed as uuencoded file. Talk presented at DIS 95, Paris (April 1995)