The intercept of the BFKL pomeron from forward jets at HERA

Recently the H1 and ZEUS collaborations have presented cross sections for DIS events with a forward jet. The BFKL formalism is able to produce an excellent fit to these data. The extracted intercept of the hard pomeron suggests that when all higher order corrections are taken into account the cross section will still rise very rapidly as expected for low x dynamics.     

Measurement of inclusive D^{\ast\pm} and associated dijet cross sections in photoproduction at HERA

Inclusive photoproduction of mesons has been measured for photon-proton centre-of-mass energies in the range GeV and photon virtuality 1 GeV. The data sample used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 37 pb. Total and differential cross sections as functions of the transverse momentum and pseudorapidity are presented in restricted kinematical regions and the data are compared with next-to-leading order (NLO) perturbative QCD calculations using the “massive charm” and “massless charm” schemes. The measured cross sections are generally above the NLO calculations, in particular in the forward (proton) direction. The large data sample also allows the study of dijet production associated with charm. A significant resolved as well as a direct photon component contribute to the cross section. Leading order QCD Monte Carlo calculations indicate that the resolved contribution arises from a significant charm component in the photon. A massive charm NLO parton level calculation yields lower cross sections compared to the measured results in a kinematic region where the resolved photon contribution is significant. Received: 9 July 1998 / Published online: 22 October 1998     

Measurement of dijet cross sections in <Emphasis Type="Italic">ep</Emphasis> interactions with a leading neutron at HERA

Measurements are reported of the production of dijet events with a leading neutron in ep interactions at HERA. Differential cross sections for photoproduction and deep inelastic scattering are presented as a function of several kinematic variables. Leading order QCD simulation programs are compared with the measurements. Models in which the real or virtual photon interacts with a parton of an exchanged pion are able to describe the data. Next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations based on pion exchange are found to be in good agreement with the measured cross sections. The fraction of leading neutron dijet events with respect to all dijet events is also determined. The dijet events with a leading neutron have a lower fraction of resolved photon processes than do the inclusive dijet data.Received: 31 January 2005, Revised: 7 March 2005, Published online: 28 April 2005     

Tests of QCD factorisation in the diffractive production of dijets in deep-inelastic scattering and photoproduction at HERA

Measurements are presented of differential dijet cross sections in diffractive photoproduction (Q²<0.01 GeV²) and deep-inelastic scattering processes (DIS, 4<Q²<80 GeV²). The event topology is given by ep→eXY, in which the system X, containing at least two jets, is separated from a leading low-mass baryonic system Y by a large rapidity gap. The dijet cross sections are compared with NLO QCD predictions based on diffractive parton densities previously obtained from a QCD analysis of inclusive diffractive DIS cross sections by H1. In DIS, the dijet data are well described, supporting the validity of QCD factorisation. The diffractive DIS dijet data are more sensitive to the diffractive gluon density at high fractional parton momentum than the measurements of inclusive diffractive DIS. In photoproduction, the predicted dijet cross section has to be multiplied by a factor of approximately 0.5 for both direct and resolved photon interactions to describe the measurements. The ratio of measured dijet cross section to NLO prediction in photoproduction is a factor 0.5±0.1 smaller than the same ratio in DIS. This suppression is the first clear observation of QCD hard scattering factorisation breaking at HERA. The measurements are also compared to the two soft colour neutralisation models SCI and GAL. The SCI model describes diffractive dijet production in DIS but not in photoproduction. The GAL model fails in both kinematic regions.     

Measurement of charm and beauty dijet cross sections in photoproduction at HERA using the H1 vertex detector

A measurement of charm and beauty dijet photoproduction cross sections at the ep collider HERA is presented. Events are selected with two or more jets of transverse momentum p_t ^jet1(2)>11(8) GeV in the central range of pseudo-rapidity -0.9<η^jet1(2)<1.3. The fractions of events containing charm and beauty quarks are determined using a method based on the impact parameter, in the transverse plane, of tracks to the primary vertex, as measured by the H1 central vertex detector. Differential dijet cross sections for charm and beauty, and their relative contributions to the flavour inclusive dijet photoproduction cross section, are measured as a function of the transverse momentum of the leading jet, the average pseudo-rapidity of the two jets and the observable x_γ ^obs. Taking into account the theoretical uncertainties, the charm cross sections are consistent with a QCD calculation in next-to-leading order, while the predicted cross sections for beauty production are somewhat lower than the measurement.     

Energy flow and rapidity gaps between jets in photoproduction at HERA

Dijet events in photon-proton collisions in which there is a large pseudorapidity separation between the two highest jets are studied with the H1 detector at HERA. The inclusive dijet cross sections are measured as functions of the longitudinal momentum fractions of the proton and photon which participate in the production of the jets, and respectively, , the pseudorapidity separation between the two highest jets, and , the total summed transverse energy between the jets. Rapidity gap events are defined as events in which is less than , for varied between 0.5 and 2.0 GeV. The fraction of dijet events with a rapidity gap is measured differentially in , and . An excess of events with rapidity gaps at low values of is observed above the expectation from standard photoproduction processes. This excess can be explained by the exchange of a strongly interacting colour singlet object between the jets. Received: 8 March 2002 / Published online: 5 July 2002     

Measurement of dijet photoproduction at high transverse energies at HERA

The cross section for dijet photoproduction at high transverse energies is presented as a function of the transverse energies and the pseudorapidities of the jets. The measurement is performed using a sample of ep-interactions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 6.3 pb, recorded by the ZEUS detector. Jets are defined by applying a -clustering algorithm to the hadrons observed in the final state. The measured cross sections are compared to next-to-leading order QCD calculations. In a kinematic regime where theoretical uncertainties are expected to be small, the measured cross sections are higher than these calculations. Received: 18 May 1999 / Published online: 14 October 1999     

Photon contribution to the “super-hard” pomeron

It is shown that direct photons provide a leading twist mechanism for diffractive jet production in which the jets carry away all of the momentum lost by the proton. Two-photon processes are thus expected to asymptotically dominate “super-hard” pomeron events in ep collisions. We report the expected rates from these events for recent ZEUS and H1 data cuts. We also estimate the direct photon contribution to the “super-hard” pomeron events observed by the CERN UA8 group for collisions. It is again argued that direct photons are the leading mechanism for these events. We find that direct photons are an appreciable fraction of the events seen by UA8.     

Dijet photoproduction of massless charm jets at next-to-leading order of QCD

We compute the charm dijet photoproduction cross section at next-to-leading order of QCD in the zero-mass variable flavour number scheme, i.e. with active charm quarks in the proton and photon. The results are compared to recent measurements from the ZEUS experiment at HERA. The predictions for various distributions agree with the data, in particular for large momentum fractions of the partons in the photon, where direct photon processes dominate. At low momentum fractions, the predictions are quite sensitive to the charm content in the photon. The experimental data are shown to favour parameterizations with a substantial charm-quark density such as the one proposed by Cornet et al.     

\gamma^* \gamma^* reactions at high energies

The total hadronic cross sections at high energy are calculated as a function of energy and photon virtuality in a model combining Reggeon exchange, the quark box diagram (a fixed pole in Regge language) and soft and hard pomeron exchanges evaluated in the context of dipole-dipole scattering. Good agreement is obtained with the data for the real cross section and for the real photon structure function . However the model prediction for the cross section is too small. This is attributed to an incorrect extrapolation of the dependence of the hard pomeron adopted here. Parametrising it independently shows that the hard part of the cross section can be well represented by a simple Regge pole with intercept . Received: 19 August 1999 / Published online: 3 February 2000     

Probing Balitsky-Fadin-Kuraev-Lipatov dynamics in the dijet cross section at large rapidity intervals in pp collisions at sqrt[s]=1800 and 630 GeV

Inclusive dijet production at large pseudorapidity intervals (Deltaeta) between the two jets has been suggested as a regime for observing Balitsky-Fadin-Kuraev-Lipatov (BFKL) dynamics. We have measured the dijet cross section for large Deltaeta in pp collisions at sqrt[s]=1800 and 630 GeV using the D0 detector. The partonic cross section increases strongly with the size of Deltaeta. The observed growth is even stronger than expected on the basis of BFKL resummation in the leading logarithmic approximation. The growth of the partonic cross section can be accommodated with an effective BFKL intercept of alphaBFKL(20 GeV)=1.65+/-0.07.     

Predictions for dijet production in DIS using small x dynamics

We study the properties of dijet production in deep inelastic scattering using a unified BFKL/DGLAP framework, which includes important subleading ln(1/x) contributions. We calculate the azimuthal decorrelation between the jets. We compute the cross section for dijet production as a function of Q² and the jet transverse momentum, as well as calculate the total dijet rate. We compare the predictions with HERA data.     

Measurement of dijet cross-sections in low {\rm Q}^2 ep collisions and the extraction of an effective parton density for the virtual photon

The triple-differential dijet cross-section, , is measured with the H1 detector at HERA as a function of the photon virtuality , the fraction of the photon's momentum carried by the parton entering the hard scattering, , and the square of the mean transverse energy, , of the two highest jets. Jets are found using a longitudinal boost-invariant clustering algorithm in the center of mass frame. The measurements cover the ranges GeV in virtuality and in inelasticity y. The results are well described by leading order QCD models which include the effects of a resolved component to the virtual photon. Models which treat the photon as point-like fail to describe the data. An effective leading order parton density for the virtual photon is extracted as a function of the photon virtuality, the probing scale and the parton momentum fraction. The and probing scale dependences of the parton density show characteristic features of photon structure, and a suppression of this structure with increasing is seen. Received: 18 December 1998 / Published online: 25 February 2000     

Deep inelastic electron-pomeron scattering at HERA

The idea that the pomeron has partonic structure similar to any other hadron has been given strong support by recent measurements of the diffractive structure function at HERA. We present a detailed theoretical analysis of the diffractive structure function under the assumption that the diffractive cross section can be factorized into a pomeron emission factor and the deep inelastic scattering cross section of the pomeron. We pay particular attention to the kinematic correlations implied by this picture, and suggest the measurement of an angular correlation which should provide a first test of the whole picture. We also present two simple phenomenological models for the quark and gluon structure of the pomeron, which are consistent with various theoretical ideas and which give equally good fits to recent measurements by the H1 collaboration, when combined with the pomeron emission factor of Donnachie and Landshoff. We predict that a large fraction of diffractive deep inelastic events will contain charm, and discuss how improved data will be able to distinguish the models.     

Diffractive production of dijets at HERA

We investigate the production of a quark-antiquark pair in diffractive photon-proton scattering, approximating soft pomeron exchange by the exchange of two nonperturbative gluons. In deep inelastic scattering at HERA, events with two jets and the scattered proton in the final state are predicted to be observable, with an important contribution from charm production. For photoproduction of light quark jets with high transverse momentum we find that both exchanged gluons must have a large invariant mass, so that the cross section is very small, whereas for charm quarks it is quite appreciable. From our calculation we also extract the quark structure function of the pomeron for the scaling variablez no too close to 0 or 1, finding a strong flavour dependence and a behaviour somewhat harder thanz(1?z) for light quarks.     

Diffractive photoproduction of jets with a direct pomeron coupling at HERA

We investigate in detail the effect of a direct pomeron coupling to quarks on the production of jets inep scattering with almost real photons. Jet production via a direct pomeron coupling is compared with the resolved-pomeron mechanism. We consider both direct and resolved photoproduction. Rapidity and transverse momentum distributions are calculated and compared with preliminary H1 and ZEUS data.     

Factorisation breaking in diffractive dijet photoproduction at HERA?

Recent experimental data on dijet cross sections in diffractive photoproduction at HERA collider are analysed with an emphasis on QCD factorisation breaking effects. The possible sources of the different conclusions of H1 and ZEUS collaborations are studied.     

Dijet photoproduction at HERA and the structure of the photon

The dijet cross section in photoproduction has been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 38.6 pb. The events were required to have a virtuality of the incoming photon, , of less than 1 GeV and a photon-proton centre-of-mass energy in the range GeV. Each event contains at least two jets satisfying transverse-energy requirements of GeV and GeV and pseudorapidity requirements of \mbox{}. The measurements are compared to next-to-leading-order QCD predictions. The data show particular sensitivity to the density of partons in the photon, allowing the validity of the current parameterisations to be tested. Received: 21 December 2001 / Published online: 5 April 2002     

Why breakup of photons and pions into forward dijets is so different: Predictions from nonlinear nuclear <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis><Subscript>⊥</Subscript> factorization

Based on an approach to non-Abelian propagation of color dipoles in a nuclear medium, we formulate a nonlinear k_⊥ factorization for the breakup of photons and pions into forward hard dijets in terms of the collective Weizsäcker-Williams glue of nuclei. We find quite distinct practical consequences of nonlinear nuclear k_⊥ factorization for interactions of pointlike photons and nonpointlike pions. In the former case, the large transverse momentum p_⊥ of jets comes from the intrinsic momentum of quarks and antiquarks in the photon, and nuclear effects manifest themselves as an azimuthal decorrelation with an acoplanarity momentum of the order of the nuclear saturation momentum Q _A . In the breakup of pions off free nucleons to the leading order in pQCD, the spectator parton has a small transverse momentum and the hard dijet cross section is suppressed. In the breakup of pions off heavy nuclei, the forward hard jets are predicted to be entirely decorrelated. We comment on the sensitivity of the pionic dijet cross section to the pion distribution amplitude. The predicted distinction between the breakup of photons and pions can be tested by the sphericity and thrust analysis of the forward hadronic system in the COMPASS experiment at CERN.