Strangeness content and structure function of the nucleon in a statistical quark model

Abstract

The strangeness content of the nucleon is determined from a statistical model using confined quark levels, and is shown to have a good agreement with the corresponding values extracted from experimental data. The quark levels are generated in a Dirac equation that uses a linear confining potential (scalar plus vector). With the requirement that the result for the Gottfried sum rule violation, given by the New Muon Collaboration (NMC), is well reproduced, we also obtain the difference between the structure functions of the proton and neutron, and the corresponding sea quark contributions.