  In our work, we describe two types of Compton processes. As an example of an
inclusive process, we consider the high-energy photoproduction of massive muon
pairs off the nucleon. We analyze the process in the framework of the QCD
parton model, in which the usual parton distributions emerge as a tool to
describe the nucleon in terms of quark and gluonic degrees of freedom. To study
its exclusive version, a new class of phenomenological functions is required,
namely, generalized parton distributions. They can be considered as a
generalization of the usual parton distributions measured in deeply inelastic
lepton-nucleon scattering. Generalized parton distributions (GPDs) may be
observed in hard exclusive reactions such as deeply virtual Compton scattering.
We develop an extension of this particular process into the weak interaction
sector. We also investigate a possible application of the GPD formalism to
wide-angle real Compton scattering.
