Early scaling in two photon reactions?

We show that the interpretation given by the TPC/2γ collaboration that their results for the photon structure functionF ₂ ^γ (x) indicates precocious scaling forQ ²>0.3 GeV² andx<0.1 is questionable. It appears to be a spurious effect possibly due to the fact that (i) the authors do not include two prong events (important at lowW), and (ii) in presenting the data they have averaged theW dependence in eachQ ² bin. To estimate the pointlike contribution of the offshell photon, we use the quark parton model (QPM) and find that this accounts for the data forQ ²>20 GeV² and all values ofW. This hard component is also responsible for the bulk of the cross section at lowQ ² andW<3 GeV. The soft or hadronic component is shown to dominate only at highW>6 GeV for values ofQ ²≤10 GeV².