LARGE P(T) PROMPT PHOTON PRODUCTION OF HERA

We examine the possibility of using direct photon production at HERA a s a means of obtaining information about the photon structure and frag mentation functions. Estimates of the cross section for inclusive prom pt photon production at the ep collider HERA are made completely in ne xt-to-leading order QCD. Using parton distributions for the photon evo lved in next-to-leading order QCD for the first time, we show that the O(alpha(s)) corrections to the processes involving these functions ar e significant in the regions where they dominate. This can have import ant consequences for the possibility of measuring the gluon content of the photon using these processes at HERA. Moreover, we show that it m ay not be straightforward to separate the various contributions to the cross section in the ep lab frame.