Diffractive structure functions from HERA
Recent results on diffraction at HERA are presented, focusing on the measurement of the inclusive diffractive cross section and on the study of two and three jets in diffractive ep scattering.
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Recent results on diffraction at HERA are presented, focusing on the measurement of the inclusive diffractive cross section and on the study of two and three jets in diffractive ep scattering.
A search for squarks in R-parity violating supersymmetry is performed in e^+p collisions at HERA at a centre of mass energy of 300 GeV, using H1 data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 37 pb^(-1). The direct production of single squarks of any generation in positron-quark fusion via a Yukawa coupling lambda' is considered, taking into account R-parity violating and conserving decays of the squarks. No significant deviation from the Standard Model expectation is found. The results are interpreted in terms of constraints within the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM), the constrained MSSM and the minimal Supergravity model, and their sensitivity to the model parameters is studied in detail. For a Yukawa coupling of electromagnetic strength, squark masses below 260 GeV are excluded at 95% confidence level in a large part of the parameter space. For a 100 times smaller coupling strength masses up to 182 GeV are excluded.
The inclusive e^-p single and double differential cross sections for neutral and charged current processes are measured with the H1 detector at HERA, in the range of four-momentum transfer squared Q^2 between 150 and 30000 GeV^2, and Bjorken x between 0.002 and 0.65. The data were taken in 1998 and 1999 with a centre-of-mass energy of 320 GeV and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 16.4 pb^(-1). The data are compared with recent measurements of the inclusive neutral and charged current e^+p cross sections. For Q^2>1000 GeV^2 clear evidence is observed for an asymmetry between e^+p and e^-p neutral current scattering and the generalised structure function xF_3 is extracted for the first time at HERA. A fit to the charged current data is used to extract a value for the W boson propagator mass. The data are found to be in good agreement with Standard Model predictions.
A measurement is presented of dijet and 3-jet cross sections in low-|t| diffractive deep-inelastic scattering interactions of the type ep -> eXY, where the system X is separated by a large rapidity gap from a low-mass baryonic system Y. Data taken with the H1 detector at HERA, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 18.0 pb^(-1), are used to measure hadron level single and double differential cross sections for 4 4 GeV. The energy flow not attributed to jets is also investigated. The measurements are consistent with a factorising diffractive exchange with trajectory intercept close to 1.2 and tightly constrain the dominating diffractive gluon distribution. Viewed in terms of the diffractive scattering of partonic fluctuations of the photon, the data require the dominance of qqbarg over qqbar states. Soft colour neutralisation models in their present form cannot simultaneously reproduce the shapes and the normalisations of the differential cross sections. Models based on 2-gluon exchange are able to reproduce the shapes of the cross sections at low x_pom values.
A precise measurement of the inclusive deep-inelastic e^+p scattering cross section is reported in the kinematic range 1.5<= Q^2 <=150 GeV^2 and 3*10^(-5)<= x <=0.2. The data were recorded with the H1 detector at HERA in 1996 and 1997, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 20 pb^(-1). The double differential cross section, from which the proton structure function F_2(x,Q^2) and the longitudinal structure function F_L(x,Q^2) are extracted, is measured with typically 1% statistical and 3% systematic uncertainties. The measured partial derivative (dF_2(x,Q^2)/dln Q^2)_x is observed to rise continuously towards small x for fixed Q^2. The cross section data are combined with published H1 measurements at high Q^2 for a next-to-leading order DGLAP QCD analysis.The H1 data determine the gluon momentum distribution in the range 3*10^(-4)<= x <=0.1 to within an experimental accuracy of about 3% for Q^2 =20 GeV^2. A fit of the H1 measurements and the mu p data of the BCDMS collaboration allows the strong coupling constant alpha_s and the gluon distribution to be simultaneously determined. A value of alpha _s(M_Z^2)=0.1150+-0.0017 (exp) +0.0009-0.0005 (model) is obtained in NLO, with an additional theoretical uncertainty of about +-0.005, mainly due to the uncertainty of the renormalisation scale.
Jet production is studied in the Breit frame in deep-inelastic positron-proton scattering over a large range of four-momentum transfers 5 < Q^2 < 15000 GeV^2 and transverse jet energies 7 < E_T < 60 GeV. The analysis is based on data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of L_int \simeq 33 pb^(-1) taken in the years 1995-1997 with the H1 detector at HERA at a center-of-mass energy sqrt(s)=300 GeV. Dijet and inclusive jet cross sections are measured multi-differentially using k_perp and angular ordered jet algorithms. The results are compared to the predictions of perturbative QCD calculations in next-to-leading order in the strong coupling constant alphas.QCD fits are performed in which alphas and the gluon density in the proton are determined separately. The gluon density is found to be in good agreement with results obtained in other analyses using data from different processes. The strong coupling constant is determined to be alphas(MZ)=0.1186+-0.0059. In addition an analysis of the data in which both alphas and the gluon density are determined simultaneously is presented.
Jet production in charged and neutral current events in the kinematic range of Q^2 from 640 to 35000 GeV^2 is studied in deep-inelastic positron-proton scattering at HERA. The measured rate of multi-jet events and distributions of jet polar angle, transverse energy, dijet mass, and other dijet variables are presented. Using parton densities derived from inclusive DIS cross sections, perturbative QCD calculations in NLO are found to give a consistent description of both the neutral and charged current dijet production. A direct, model independent comparison of the jet distributions in charged and neutral current events confirms that the QCD dynamics of the hadronic final state is independent of the underlying electroweak scattering process.
A search for excited fermions f^* of the first generation in e^+p scattering at the collider HERA is presented using H1 data with an integrated luminosity of 37 pb^(-1). All electroweak decays of excited fermions, f^* -> f gamma, f W, f Z are considered and all possible final states resulting from the Z or W hadronic decays or decays into leptons of the first two generations are taken into account. No evidence for f^* production is found. Mass dependent exclusion limits on cross-sections and on the ratio of coupling constants to the compositeness scale are derived.
The inclusive cross section for the photoproduction of neutral pions has been measured as a function of the transverse momentum, rapidity, and Feynman x of the pizero mesons at an average photon--proton centre-of-mass energy of 208 GeV and for photon virtualities below Q^2=0.01 GeV^2. The pizero measurement extends the range covered by previous charged particle measurements at HERA by two units of rapidity in the photon direction down to a value of -5.5 in the gamma p centre-of-mass frame. The pizero transverse momentum distribution is well described over the whole measured range by a power law ansatz, while an exponential fit falls below the data at transverse momentum values above 1.5 GeV/c. Good agreement with the predictions of the Monte Carlo models PYTHIA and PHOJET is found. In the context of the PYTHIA model the data are inconsistent with large intrinsic transverse momentum values in the photon.
The elastic electroproduction of phi mesons is studied at HERA with the H1 detector for photon virtualities 1 < Q^2 < 15 GeV^2 and hadronic centre of mass energies 40 < W < 130 GeV. The Q^2 and t dependences of the cross section are extracted (t being the square of the four-momentum transfer to the target proton). When plotted as function of (Q^2 + M_V^2) and scaled by the appropriate SU(5) quark charge factor, the phi meson cross section agrees within errors with the cross sections of the vector mesons V = rho, omega and J/psi. A detailed analysis is performed of the phi meson polarisation state and the ratio of the production cross sections for longitudinally and transversely polarised phi mesons is determined. A small but significant violation of s-channel helicity conservation (SCHC) is observed.
The reaction e+p --> e+X is studied with the H1 detector at Hera. The data cover momentum transfers Q^2 between 200 GeV^2 and 30,000 GeV^2 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 35.6 pb^(-1). The differential cross section dsigma/dQ^2 is compared to the Standard Model expectation for neutral current scattering and analysed to search for bar(e)e bar(q)q contact interactions. No evidence for new phenomena is observed. The results are used to set limits on scales within models of electron--quark compositeness, quark form factors and the exchange of virtual heavy leptoquarks. A search for gravitational effects mediated through the exchange of virtual gravitons which propagate into large extra dimensions is presented.
Cross sections for elastic photoproduction of J/Psi and Upsilon mesons are presented. For J/Psi mesons the dependence on the photon-proton centre-of-mass energy W_gammap is analysed in an extended range with respect to previous measurements of 26<=W_gammap<= 285 GeV. The measured energy dependence is parameterized as sigma_gammap proportional W_gammap^delta with delta=0.83+-0.07. The differential cross section dsigma/dt for J/Psi mesons is derived, its dependence on W_gammap and on t is analysed and the effective trajectory (in terms of Regge theory) is determined to be alpha(t)=(1.27+-0.05)+(0.08+-0.17)*t/GeV^2. Models based on perturbative QCD and on pomeron exchange are compared to the data.
The production of hard di-jet events in photoproduction at HERA is dominated by resolved photon processes in which a parton in the photon with momentum fraction x_gamma is scattered from a parton in the proton. These processes are sensitive to the quark and gluon content of the photon. The differential di-jet cross-section dsigma/dlog(x_gamma) is presented here, measured in tagged photoproduction at HERA using data taken with the H1 detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 7.2 pb^(-1). Using a restricted data sample at high transverse jet energy, E_(T,jet)>6 GeV, the effective parton density f_gamma,eff(x_gamma) = [q(x_gamma) + bar(q)(x_gamma) +9/4g(x_gamma)] in the photon in leading order QCD is measured down to x_gamma=0.05 from which the gluon density in the photon is derived.
A search for new bosons possessing couplings to lepton-quark pairs is performed in the H1 experiment at HERA using 1994 to 1997 data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 37pb^-1. First generation leptoquarks (LQs) are searched in very high Q^2 neutral (NC) and charged (CC) current data samples. The measurements are compared to Standard Model (SM) expectations from deep-inelastic scattering (DIS). A deviation in the Q^2 spectrum previously observed in the 1994 to 1996 dataset at Q^2 \gsim 15000GeV^2 remains, though with less significance. This deviation corresponded to a clustering in the invariant mass spectrum at M \simeq 200 GeV which is not observed with the 1997 dataset alone. The NC DIS data is used to constrain the Yukawa couplings lambda of first generation scalar and vector LQs in the Buchmueller-Rueckl-Wyler effective model. Scalar LQs are excluded for masses up to 275GeV for a coupling of electromagnetic strength, lambda=0.3. A sensitivity to coupling values \lsim 1 is established for masses up to 400GeV for any LQ type. The NC and CC DIS data are combined to constrain lambda for arbitrary branching ratios of the LQ into eq in a generic model. For a decay branching ratio into e^+ u pairs as small as 10%, LQ masses up to 260 GeV are ruled out for lambda=0.3. LQs possessing couplings to mixed fermion generations, which could lead to signals of lepton flavor violation (LFV), are searched in events with a high transverse momentum mu or tau. No mu+X or tau+X event candidate is found that is compatible with LQ kinematics. Constraints are set on the Yukawa coupling involving the mu and tau lepton in a yet unexplored mass range.
The inclusive single and double differential cross-sections for neutral and charged current processes with four-momentum transfer squared Q^2 between 150 and 30,000 GeV2 and with Bjorken x between 0.0032 and 0.65 are measured in e^+ p collisions. The data were taken with the H1 detector at HERA between 1994 and 1997, and they correspond to an integrated luminosity of 35.6 pb^-1. The Q^2 evolution of the parton densities of the proton is tested, yielding no significant deviation from the prediction of perturbative QCD. The proton structure function F_2(x,Q^2) is determined. An extraction of the u and d quark distributions at high x is presented. At high Q^2 electroweak effects of the heavy bosons Z0 and W are observed and found to be consistent with Standard Model expectation.
Deep-inelastic ep scattering data, taken with the H1 detector at HERA, are used to study the event shape variables thrust, jet broadening, jet mass, C parameter and two kinds of differential two-jet rate. The data cover a large range of the four-momentum transfer Q, which is considered to be the relevant energy scale, between 7 GeV and 100 GeV. The Q dependences of the mean values are compared with second order calculations of perturbative QCD applying power law corrections proportional to 1/Q^p to account for hadronization effects. The concept of power corrections is investigated by fitting simultaneously a non-perturbative parameter alpha_p and the strong coupling constant alpha_s.
The first observation of open b production in ep collisions is reported. An event sample containing muons and jets has been selected which is enriched in semileptonic b quark decays. The visible cross section σ(ep -> b \bar{b}X -> μX') for Q^2 < 1 GeV^2, 0.1 < y < 0.8 is measured to be 0.176+-0.016(stat.)+0.026-0.017(syst.) nb for the muons to be detected in the range 35 deg < θ^μ< 130 deg and \pt^μ> 2.0 GeV in the laboratory frame. The expected visible cross section based on a NLO QCD calculation is 0.104+-0.017 nb. The cross sections for electroproduction with Q^2<1 GeV^2 and photoproduction are derived from the data and found to be σ(ep-> e b\bar{b}X) = 7.1+-0.6(stat.)+1.5-1.3(syst.) nb and σ(γp-> b\bar{b} X) = 111+-10(stat.)+23-20(syst.) at an average \sim 180 GeV, respectively.
Transverse momentum spectra of charged particles produced in deep inelastic scattering are measured as a function of the kinematic variables x_B and Q2 using the H1 detector at the ep collider HERA. The data are compared to different parton emission models, either with or without ordering of the emissions in transverse momentum. The data provide evidence for a relatively large amount of parton radiation between the current and the remnant systems.