Direct vs. resolved photon: an exercise in factorization

Direct and resolved photon interactions are shown to be intimately related through the factorization mechanism. It is argued that in theoretically consistent analysis of jet production in $\gamma$p and ep collisions the LO resolved $\gamma$ contribution must be considered together with the NLO direct $\gamma$ component. Recent data from HERA therefore do not provide a direct evidence for the former component, but should rather be interpreted as a manifestation of the $O(\alpha\alpha_s^2)$ term in $\gamma$p and, via the Weizs\"acker-Williams approximation, in ep interactions.