We present measurements of the structure function \Ft\ in $e~+p$ scattering at HERA in the range $3.5\;\Gevsq < \qsd < 5000\;\Gevsq$. A new reconstruction method has allowed a significant improvement in the resolution of the kinematic variables and an extension of the kinematic region covered by the experiment. At $ \qsd < 35 \;\Gevsq$ the range in $x$ now spans $6.3\cdot 10~{-5} < x < 0.08$ providing overlap with measurements from fixed target experiments. At values of $Q~2$ above 1000 GeV$~2$ the $x$ range extends to 0.5. Systematic errors below 5\perc\ have been achieved for most of the kinematic region. The structure function rises as \x\ decreases; the rise becomes more pronounced as \qsd\ increases. The behaviour of the structure function data is well described by next-to-leading order perturbative QCD as implemented in the DGLAP evolution equations.
The cross section for high-E_T dijet production in photoproduction has been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 81.8 pb-1. The events were required to have a virtuality of the incoming photon, Q^2, of less than 1 GeV^2 and a photon-proton centre-of-mass energy in the range 142 < W < 293 GeV. Events were selected if at least two jets satisfied the transverse-energy requirements of E_T(jet1) > 20 GeV and E_T(jet2) > 15 GeV and pseudorapidity requirements of -1 < eta(jet1,2) < 3, with at least one of the jets satisfying -1 < eta(jet) < 2.5. The measurements show sensitivity to the parton distributions in the photon and proton and effects beyond next-to-leading order in QCD. Hence these data can be used to constrain further the parton densities in the proton and photon.
Three- and four-jet final states have been measured in photoproduction at HERA using the ZEUS detector with an integrated luminosity of 121 pb^-1. The results are presented for jets with transverse energy E_T^jet>6 GeV and pseudorapidity |eta^jet|<2.4, in the kinematic region given by the virtuality of the photon Q^2<1 GeV^2 and the inelasticity 0.2<y<0.85 and in two mass regions defined as 25<M_nj<50 GeV and M_nj>50 GeV, where M_nj is the invariant mass of the n-jet system. The four-jet photoproduction cross section has been measured for the first time and represents the highest-order process studied at HERA. Both the three- and four-jet cross sections have been compared with leading-logarithmic parton-shower Monte Carlo models, with and without multi-parton interactions. The three-jet cross sections have been compared to an order(alpha alpha_s^2) perturbative QCD calculation.
Charged particle production has been measured in Deep Inelastic Scattering (DIS) events using the ZEUS detector over a large range of $Q~2$ from 10 to $1280 {\rm\ GeV}~2$. The evolution with $Q$ of the charged multiplicity and scaled momentum has been investigated in the current fragmentation region of the Breit frame. The data are used to study QCD \linebreak coherence effects in DIS and are compared with corresponding \eedata in order to test the universality of quark fragmentation.
The production of D+- and D0 mesons has been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 133.6 pb-1. The measurements cover the kinematic range 5 < Q^2 < 1000 GeV^2, 0.02 < y < 0.7, 1.5 < p_T^D < 15 GeV and eta^D < 1.6. Combinatorial background to the D meson signals is reduced by using the ZEUS microvertex detector to reconstruct displaced secondary vertices. Production cross sections are compared with the predictions of next-to-leading-order QCD which is found to describe the data well. Measurements are extrapolated to the full kinematic phase space in order to obtain the open-charm contribution, F2^ccbar, to the proton structure function, F2.
Inclusive-jet cross sections have been measured in the reaction ep->e+jet+X for photon virtuality Q2 < 1 GeV2 and gamma-p centre-of-mass energies in the region 142 < W(gamma-p) < 293 GeV with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 300 pb-1. Jets were identified using the kT, anti-kT or SIScone jet algorithms in the laboratory frame. Single-differential cross sections are presented as functions of the jet transverse energy, ETjet, and pseudorapidity, etajet, for jets with ETjet > 17 GeV and -1 < etajet < 2.5. In addition, measurements of double-differential inclusive-jet cross sections are presented as functions of ETjet in different regions of etajet. Next-to-leading-order QCD calculations give a good description of the measurements, except for jets with low ETjet and high etajet. The influence of non-perturbative effects not related to hadronisation was studied. Measurements of the ratios of cross sections using different jet algorithms are also presented; the measured ratios are well described by calculations including up to O(alphas2) terms. Values of alphas(Mz) were extracted from the measurements and the energy-scale dependence of the coupling was determined. The value of alphas(Mz) extracted from the measurements based on the kT jet algorithm is alphas(Mz) = 0.1206 +0.0023 -0.0022 (exp.) +0.0042 -0.0035 (th.); the results from the anti-kT and SIScone algorithms are compatible with this value and have a similar precision.
This paper presents measurements of \k\ and \lam\ production in neutral current, deep inelastic scattering of 26.7 GeV electrons and 820 GeV protons in the kinematic range $ 10 < Q~{2} < 640 $ GeV$~2$, $0.0003 < x < 0.01$, and $y > 0.04$. Average multiplicities for \k\ and \lam\ production are determined for transverse momenta \ \ptr\ $> 0.5 $ GeV and pseudorapidities $\left| \eta \right| < 1.3$. The multiplicities favour a stronger strange to light quark suppression in the fragmentation chain than found in $e~+ e~-$ experiments. The production properties of \k's in events with and without a large rapidity gap with respect to the proton direction are compared. The ratio of neutral \k's to charged particles per event in the measured kinematic range is, within the present statistics, the same in both samples.
Scaled momentum distributions for the strange hadrons K0s and Lambda/bar Lambda were measured in deep inelastic ep scattering with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 330 pb-1. The evolution of these distributions with the photon virtuality, Q2, was studied in the kinematic region 10<Q2<40000 GeV2 and 0.001<x<0.75, where x is the Bjorken scaling variable. Clear scaling violations are observed. Predictions based on different approaches to fragmentation were compared to the measurements. Leading-logarithm parton-shower Monte Carlo calculations interfaced to the Lund string fragmentation model describe the data reasonably well in the whole range measured. Next-to-leading-order QCD calculations based on fragmentation functions, FFs, extracted from e+e- data alone, fail to describe the measurements. The calculations based on FFs extracted from a global analysis including e+e-, ep and pp data give an improved description. The measurements presented in this paper have the potential to further constrain the FFs of quarks, anti-quarks and gluons yielding K0s and Lambda/bar Lambda strange hadrons.
Multijet production rates in neutral current deep inelastic scattering have been measured in the range of exchanged boson virtualities 10 < Q2 < 5000 GeV2. The data were taken at the ep collider HERA with centre-of-mass energy sqrt(s) = 318 GeV using the ZEUS detector and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 82.2 pb-1. Jets were identified in the Breit frame using the k_T cluster algorithm in the longitudinally invariant inclusive mode. Measurements of differential dijet and trijet cross sections are presented as functions of jet transverse energy E_{T,B}{jet}, pseudorapidity eta_{LAB}{jet} and Q2 with E_{T,B}{jet} > 5 GeV and -1 < eta_{LAB}{jet} < 2.5. Next-to-leading-order QCD calculations describe the data well. The value of the strong coupling constant alpha_s(M_Z), determined from the ratio of the trijet to dijet cross sections, is alpha_s(M_Z) = 0.1179 pm 0.0013(stat.) {+0.0028}_{-0.0046}(exp.) {+0.0064}_{-0.0046}(th.)
Dijet angular distributions of photoproduction events in which a $D^{*\pm}$ meson is produced in association with one of two energetic jets have been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA, using an integrated luminosity of 120 pb$^{-1}$. Differential cross sections as a function of the angle between the charm-jet and the proton-beam direction in the dijet rest frame have been measured for samples enriched in direct or resolved photon events. The results are compared with predictions from leading-order parton-shower Monte Carlo models and with next-to-leading-order QCD calculations. The angular distributions show clear evidence for the existence of charm originating from the photon.