RECOMBINATION EFFECTS IN THE STRUCTURE-FUNCTION EVOLUTION AT LOW-X - CAN THEY BE OBSERVED AT HERA

Can the non-linear QCD effects resulting from parton recombination be detected at HERA by the H1 and ZEUS detectors? We argue that an extension of the low x domain of the proton structure function F2 measurements to small electron scattering angle is essential before they can be ruled out. If, on the other hand, they are large, we find that their magnitude cannot be determined unambiguously from the measured Q2 and x dependence of F2. This is due to large correlations between the size of recombination effects and the gluon distribution which is very weakly constrained at low x by the F2 evolution.