Observation of Scaling Violations in Scaled Momentum Distributions at HERA

Charged particle production has been measured in deep inelastic scattering (DIS) events over a large range of $x$ and $Q^2$ using the ZEUS detector. The evolution of the scaled momentum, $x_p$, with $Q^2,$ in the range 10 to 1280 $GeV^2$, has been investigated in the current fragmentation region of the Breit frame. The results show clear evidence, in a single experiment, for scaling violations in scaled momenta as a function of $Q^2$.Comment: 21 pages including 4 figures, to be published in Physics Letters B. Two references adde

D* Production in Deep Inelastic Scattering at HERA

This paper presents measurements of D^{*\pm} production in deep inelastic scattering from collisions between 27.5 GeV positrons and 820 GeV protons. The data have been taken with the ZEUS detector at HERA. The decay channel $D^{*+}\to (D^0 \to K^- \pi^+) \pi^+$ (+ c.c.) has been used in the study. The $e^+p$ cross section for inclusive D^{*\pm} production with $5<Q^2<100 GeV^2$ and $y<0.7$ is 5.3 \pms 1.0 \pms 0.8 nb in the kinematic region {$1.3<p_T(D^{*\pm})<9.0$ GeV and $| \eta(D^{*\pm}) |<1.5$}. Differential cross sections as functions of p_T(D^{*\pm}), $\eta(D^{*\pm}), W$ and $Q^2$ are compared with next-to-leading order QCD calculations based on the photon-gluon fusion production mechanism. After an extrapolation of the cross section to the full kinematic region in p_T(D^{*\pm}) and $\eta$(D^{*\pm}), the charm contribution $F_2^{c\bar{c}}(x,Q^2)$ to the proton structure function is determined for Bjorken $x$ between 2 $\cdot$ 10$^{-4}$ and 5 $\cdot$ 10$^{-3}$.Comment: 17 pages including 4 figure

Observation of Events with an Energetic Forward Neutron in Deep Inelastic Scattering at HERA

In deep inelastic neutral current scattering of positrons and protons at the center of mass energy of 300 GeV, we observe, with the ZEUS detector, events with a high energy neutron produced at very small scattering angles with respect to the proton direction. The events constitute a fixed fraction of the deep inelastic, neutral current event sample independent of Bjorken x and Q2 in the range 3 · 10-4 \u3c xBJ \u3c 6 · 10-3 and 10 \u3c Q2 \u3c 100 GeV2

Measurement of the E**2(T,jet) / Q**2 dependence of forward jet production at HERA

The forward-jet cross section in deep inelastic ep scattering has been measured using the ZEUS detector at HERA with an integrated luminosity of 6.36 pb^-1. The jet cross section is presented as a function of jet transverse energy squared, E(T,jet)^2, and Q^2 in the kinematic ranges 10^-2<E(T,jet)^2/Q^2<10^2 and 2.5 10^-4<x<8.0 10^-2. Since the perturbative QCD predictions for this cross section are sensitive to the treatment of the log(E_T/Q)^2 terms, this measurement provides an important test. The measured cross section is compared to the predictions of a next-to-leading order pQCD calculation as well as to various leading-order Monte Carlo models. Whereas the predictions of all models agree with the measured cross section in the region of small E(T,Jet)^2/Q^2, only one model, which includes a resolved photon component, describes the data over the whole kinematic range.Comment: 8 pages including 3 figure

Measurement of inclusive D+-(s) photoproduction at HERA

The first measurement of inclusive Ds+- photoproduction at HERA has been performed with the ZEUS detector for photon-proton centre-of-mass energies 130 < W < 280 GeV. The measured cross section for 3 < pt(Ds) < 12 GeV and |eta(Ds)| Ds X) = 3.79 +- 0.59 (stat.) +0.26-0.46 (syst.) +- 0.94 (br.) nb, where the last error arises from the uncertainty in the Ds decay branching ratio. The measurements are compared with inclusive D*+- photoproduction cross sections in the same kinematic region and with QCD calculations. The Ds cross sections lie above a fixed-order next-to-leading order calculation and agree better with a tree-level O(alpha,alpha_s^3) calculation that was tuned to describe the ZEUS D* cross sections. The ratio of Ds+- to D*+- cross sections is 0.41 +- 0.07 (stat.) +0.03-0.05 (syst.) +- 0.10 (br.). From this ratio, the strangeness-suppression factor in charm photoproduction, within the LUND string fragmentation model, has been calculated to be gamma_s = 0.27 +- 0.05 +- 0.07 (br.). The cross-section ratio and gamma_s are in good agreement with those obtained in charm production in e+e- annihilation.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Lett. B; 1 footnote adde

Measurement of the proton structure function F2 at very low Q2 at HERA

A measurement of the proton structure function F_2(x,Q^2) is presented in the kinematic range 0.045 GeV^2 < Q^2 < 0.65 GeV^2 and 6*10^{-7} < x < 1*10^{-3}. The results were obtained using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.9pb^-1 in e^+p reactions recorded with the ZEUS detector at HERA. Information from a silicon-strip tracking detector, installed in front of the small electromagnetic calorimeter used to measure the energy of the final-state positron at small scattering angles, together with an enhanced simulation of the hadronic final state, has permitted the extension of the kinematic range beyond that of previous measurements. The uncertainties in F_2 are typically less than 4%. At the low Q^2 values of the present measurement, the rise of F_2 at low x is slower than observed in HERA data at higher Q^2 and can be described by Regge theory with a constant logarithmic slope. The dependence of F_2 on Q^2 is stronger than at higher Q^2 values, approaching, at the lowest Q^2 values of this measurement, a region where F_2 becomes nearly proportional to Q^2.Comment: 23 pages including 4 figures. Revised version (v2) has a corrected author list and implements comments from the referee. Accepted by Phys. Lett.

Measurement of exclusive omega electroproduction at HERA

The exclusive electroproduction of omega mesons, ep -> e omega p, has been studied in the kinematic range 3<Q^2<20 GeV^2, 40<W<120 GeV and |t|<0.6 GeV^2 with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 37.7 pb^{-1}. The omega mesons were identified via the decay omega -> pi^+pi^-pi^0. The exclusive (ep -> e omega p) cross section in the above kinematic region is 0.108 +- 0.014(stat.) +- 0.026(syst.) nb. The reaction ep -> e phi p, phi -> pi^+pi^-pi^0, has also been measured. The cross sections, as well as the cross-section ratios omega/rho and omega/phi, are presented as a function of W and Q^2. Thus, for the first time, the properties of omega electroproduction can be compared to those of rho^0, phi and J/psi electroproduction at high W.Comment: 15 pages including 4 figure

Measurement of the diffractive cross section in deep inelastic scattering using ZEUS 1994 data

The DIS diffractive cross section, dσdiffγ*p→XN/dMx, has been measured in the mass range Mx < 15 GeV for γ*p c.m. energies 60 < W < 200 GeV and photon virtualities Q2 = 7 to 140 GeV2. For fixed Q2 and Mx, the diffractive cross section rises rapidly with W, dσdiffγ*p→X N (Mx, W, Q2)/dMx ∝ Wadiff with adiff = 0.507 ± 0.034 (stat) +0.155-0.046 (syst) corresponding to a t-averaged pomeron trajectory of ̄αℙ = 1.127 ± 0.009 (stat) +0.039-0.012 (syst) which is larger than ̄αℙ observed in hadron-hadron scattering. The W dependence of the diffractive cross section is found to be the same as that of the total cross section for scattering of virtual photons on protons. The data are consistent with the assumption that the diffractive structure function FD(3)2 factorizes according to cursive greek chiℙFD(3)2(cursive greek chiℙ, β, Q2) = (cursive greek chi0//cursive greek chiℙ)nFD(2)2(β, Q2). They are also consistent with QCD based models which incorporate factorization breaking. The rise of cursive greek chiℙFD(3)2 with decreasing cursive greek chiℙ and the weak dependence of FD(2)2 on Q2 suggest a substantial contribution from partonic interactions