We discuss recent theoretical results on diffractive deeply inelastic scattering, focusing on the partonic picture of diffraction in configuration space and the predictions for the beta behavior and the scaling violation.
The structure of generalized parton distributions is determined from light-front holographic QCD up to a universal reparametrization function $w(x)$ which incorporates Regge behavior at small $x$ and inclusive counting rules at $x to 1$. A simple ans
atz for $w(x)$ which fulfills these physics constraints with a single-parameter results in precise descriptions of both the nucleon and the pion quark distribution functions in comparison with global fits. The analytic structure of the amplitudes leads to a connection with the Veneziano model and hence to a nontrivial connection with Regge theory and the hadron spectrum.
We review the information on the spin and orbital angular momentum structure of the nucleon encoded in the T-even transverse momentum dependent parton distributions within light-cone quark models. Model results for azimuthal spin asymmetries in semi-
inclusive lepton-nucleon deep-inelastic scattering are discussed, showing a good agreement with available experimental data and providing predictions to be further tested by future CLAS, COMPASS and HERMES data.
We determine diffractive parton distributions of the proton from DGLAP based fits to HERA data including the twist--4 contribution from longitudinal polarized virtual photons, which is known to be important in the region of large beta. The biggest im
pact of this contribution is on the diffractive gluon distribution and on the diffractive longitudinal structure function to be determined from HERA data.
Diffractive parton distributions of the proton are determined from fits to diffractive data from HERA. In addition to the twist--2 contribution, the twist--4 contribution from longitudinally polarised virtual photons is considered, which is important
in the region of small diffractive masses. A new prediction for the longitudinal diffractive structure function is presented which differs significantly from that obtained in the pure twist--2 analyses.
We consider the impact that can be made on our understanding of parton distributions (PDFs) and QCD from early measurements at the LHCb experiment. The high rapidity values make the experiment uniquely suited to a detailed study of small-x parton dis
tributions and hence will make a significant contribution towards the clarification of both experimental and theoretical uncertainties on PDFs and their applications.