ALL-LOOPS CALCULATION OF THE STRUCTURE-FUNCTION FOR X-]0 IN PERTURBATIVE QCD

We study in perturbative QCD the initial-state radiation associated to hadron processes in the semi-hard region of small x (x is the Bjorken variable). A recent analysis of the exclusive multi-gluon distributions to double (infrared and collinear) logarithmic accuracy is extended to the case of inclusive distributions, which we evaluate to single (infrared) logarithmic accuracy. Thus the resulting x --> 0 structure function or N --> 1 gluon anomalous dimension is computed to all-loops accuracy. For the inclusive distributions we are able to perform a calculation to such an accuracy by extensively using cancellations which originate from coherence of QCD radiation and the infrared regularity of real-virtual singularities. We find that the x --> 0 structure function satisfies the Lipatov equation. With the present study we therefore provide a new derivation of the Lipatov result in the context of hard collisions together with a fully exclusive description. We discuss the structure of the Lipatov equation in relation with the x --> 0 exclusive distributions previously obtained and with the Altarelli-Parisi equation valid for finite values of x.