DEEP-INELASTIC SCATTERING ON INTRINSIC CHARM QUARKS IN THE PROTON

Possibilities of probing the predicted intrinsic charm quark component in the proton by deep-inelastic lepton scattering are investigated. T otal cross sections are found to be sizable, but the observable rate, e.g., through muons from semileptonic charm decays, depends strongly o n the experimental situation. The DESY ep collider HERA has acceptance losses close to the proton beam, along which the ep system is strongl y boosted, whereas for fixed target muon scattering, e.g., at Fermilab , the acceptance can be made much better. Backgrounds are calculated a nd ways to suppress them developed, resulting in acceptable signal/bac kground ratios. For existing experiments the predicted statistics are relatively small, but may still contribute to a solution of the open i ntrinsic charm problem, whereas a dedicated experiment should settle t he issue.