The gluon distribution as a function of F2 and dF2dlnQ2 at small x. The next-to-leading analysis

We present a set of formulae to extract the gluon distribution function from the deep inelastic structure function F2 and its derivative dF2dlnQ2 at small x in the next-to-leading order approximation. Our expressions reach a higher degree of accuracy in a wider kinematical range than previous ones and are valid for any value of δ, being x−δ the behavior of the parton densities at low x. The detailed analysis is given for new HERA data and the values of the gluon distribution are found in the range 10−4≤x≤10−2 at Q2 = 20 GeV2