Professor Brian Foster OBE, FRS

Abstract:

Inclusive event-shape variables have been measured in the current region of the Breit frame for neutral current deep inelastic ep scattering using an integrated luminosity of 45.0 pb-1 collected with the ZEUS detector at HERA. The variables studied included thrust, jet broadening and invariant jet mass. The kinematic range covered was 10 < Q2 < 20480 GeV2 and 6 × 10-4 < x < 0.6, where Q2 is the virtuality of the exchanged boson and x is the Bjorken variable. The Q dependence of the shape variables has been used in conjunction with NLO perturbative calculations and the Dokshitzer-Webber non-perturbative corrections ('power corrections') to investigate the validity of this approach.

Abstract:

The cross sections for inelastic photoproduction of J/ψ and ψ′ mesons have been measured in ep collisions with the ZEUS detector at HERA, using an integrated luminosity of 38.0 pb-1. The events were required to have 0.1 < z < 0.9 and 50 < W < 180 GeV, where z is the fraction of the incident photon energy carried by the J/ψ in the proton rest frame and W is the photon-proton centre-of-mass energy. The ψ′ to J/ψ cross-section ratio was measured in the range 0.55 < z < 0.9. The J/ψ data, for various ranges of transverse momentum, are compared to theoretical models incorporating colour-singlet and colour-octet matrix elements. Predictions of a next-to-leading-order colour-singlet model give a good description of the data, although there is a large normalisation uncertainty. The J/ψ helicity distribution for z > 0.4 is compared to leading-order QCD predictions.

Abstract:

Inclusive φ(1020)-meson production in neutral current deep inelastic e+p scattering has been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 45 pb-1. The φ mesons were studied in the range 10 < Q2 < 100 GeV2, where Q2 is the virtuality of the exchanged photon, and in restricted kinematic regions in the transverse momentum, pT, pseudorapidity, η, and the scaled momentum in the Breit frame, xp. Monte Carlo models with the strangeness-suppression factor as determined by analyses of e+e- annihilation events overestimate the cross sections. A smaller value of the strangeness-suppression factor reduces the predicted cross sections, but fails to reproduce the shapes of the measured differential cross sections. High-momentum φ mesons in the current region of the Breit frame give the first direct evidence for the strange sea in the proton at low x. © 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

Abstract:

The azimuthal distribution of jets produced in the Breit frame in high-Q2 deep inelastic e+p scattering has been studied with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 38.6 pb-1. The measured azimuthal distribution shows a structure that is well described by next-to-leading-order QCD predictions over the Q2 range considered, Q2 > 125 GeV2. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract:

Diffractive photoproduction of vector mesons, γp → VY, where Y is a proton-dissociative system, has been measured in e+p interactions with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 25 pb-1. The differential cross section, dσ/dt, is presented for 1.2 < -t < 12 GeV2, where t is the square of the four-momentum transferred to the vector meson. The data span the range in photon-proton centre-of-mass energy, W, from 80 GeV to 120 GeV. The t distributions are well fit by a power law, dσ/dt ∝ (-t)-n. The slope of the effective Pomeron trajectory, measured from the W dependence of the ρ0 and φ cross sections in bins of t, is consistent with zero. The ratios dσγp→φY/dt to dσγp→ρ0Y/dt and dσγp→J/ψY/dt to dσγp→ρ0Y/dt increase with increasing -t. Decay-angle analyses for ρ0, φ and J/ψ mesons have been carried out. For the ρ0 and φ mesons, contributions from single and double helicity flip are observed. The results are compared to expectations of theoretical models.