The energy dependence of the photon-proton total cross section, sigma-tot, was determined from ep scattering data collected with the ZEUS detector at HERA at three values of the center-of-mass energy, W, of the gamma-p system in the range 194<W<296 GeV. This is the first determination of the W dependence of sigma-tot from a single experiment at high W. Parameterizing sigma-tot proportional to W^(2 epsilon), epsilon = 0.111 +/- 0.009 (stat.) +/- 0.036 (syst.) was obtained.
Ratios of the cross sections for 3 energy bins. The first DSYS error isthe uncorrelated uncertainty and the second is the correlated uncertainty.
Fitted power law energy dependence.
The photon-proton total cross section has been measured in the process e+ p -> e+ gamma p -> e+ X with the ZEUS detector at HERA. Events were collected with photon virtuality Q^2 < 0.02 GeV^2 and average gamma-p center-of-mass energy W_{gamma p} = 209 GeV in a dedicated run, designed to control systematic effects, with an integrated luminosity of 49 nb^{-1}. The measured total cross section is sigma_{tot}^{gamma p} = 174 +- 1 (stat.) +- 13 (syst.) microbarns. The energy dependence of the cross section is compatible with parameterizations of high-energy p-p and p-pbar data.
Total GAMMA P cross section.