Diffractive Factorization - a Simple Field Theory Model for F₂^(diff)(β x_(pom), Q²; x_(pom),t)

Operator definitions of diffractive parton distribution functions are given. A distinction is made between the special case of ``Regge factorization'' to the general case of ``diffractive factorization'' with explicit expressions for $F_2^{diff}(\beta x_{\pom}, Q^2;x_{\pom},t)$ in both cases. A calculation from a simple field theory model is presented in the style of ``constituent counting rules'' for the behavior of the diffractive parton distribution functions when $\beta \rightarrow 1$, which corresponds to when the detected parton carries almost all of the longitudinal momentum transferred from the scattered hadron. A comment is made about the consistency of the model with the observed flattening of $n(\beta)$ as $\beta \rightarrow 1$, which recently was reported by the H1-collaboration from their preliminary 1994 data.