Recent measurements at low Q² performed at HERMES and at Jefferson Lab have revealed new and surprising results on the unpolarised structure functions of the nucleon and the influence of the nuclear environment.

Measurements of F₂ and in the resonance region indicate the near absence of higher twist effects, if averaged over the full resonance region, even at very low Q² and high x. When interpreted in the framework of parton-hadron duality (Bloom-Gilman duality) the data show a valence like structure of F₂ in a x range where deep inelastic data at higher Q² are dominated by sea quarks.

Measurements of the cross section ratios of ³He and ¹⁴N to that of deuterium in the shadowing region result in smaller values than expected from previous deep inelastic experiments at higher values of Q². One possible explanation is a strong nuclear dependence of the longitudinal structure function F_L at low Q² and/or the presence of strong nuclear effects in the nonperturbative contribution to , i.e. a strong nuclear dependence of higher twist effects.

In addition, DESY and FermiLab data have largely expanded the kinematics region of F₂ measurements down to very low x and low Q², and the discrepancy between neutrino and electron/muon deep inelastic scattering measurements of F₂ at low x remains. Lastly, several reanalyses of previous data to improve our knowledge of parton distribution functions and higher twist effects have become available.

The aim of this workshop is to review the present understanding of structure functions at low Q² and to find a consistent picture explaining the new data which are in contrast to the most commonly accepted picture of deep inelastic scattering. The workshop will also concentrate on the assumptions made when extracting parton distribution functions and the knowledge and importance of higher twist effects.

A. Bruell (MIT)
R. Ent (JLab)
R.L. Jaffe (MIT)
C.E. Keppel (HU/JLab)
R.G. Milner (MIT)

The attendance of this Workshop will be limited to 60 participants. A preliminary list of speakers is given below

B. Badelek (Uppsala/Warsaw)
A. Bodek (Rochester)
R. Ent (JLab)
J. van Hunen (NIKHEF)
B. Kopeliovich (MPI Heidelberg)
S. Liuti (INFN/UVa)
W. Melnitshouk (Juelich)
G. Miller (UW Seattle)
J. Morfin (FNAL)
I. Niculescu (GWU/JLab)
S. Rock (AU/SLAC)
A. Radyushkin (ODU/JLab)
T. Sloan (Lancaster)
M. Strikman (Penn State)

News, circulars and updates on the workshop will be posted starting next week on the conference home page at http://pierre.mit.edu/~eluc/whats_new/wsf.html.

Blocks of hotel rooms have been reserved in nearby hotels. Information on these hotel rooms will be provided at the aforementioned web adresses.

Those who are interested in this workshop and would like to register are requested to contact A. Bruell by e-mail (abr@pierre.mit.edu). A registration fee of $50 will be required at the workshop.

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