A search for single top quark production is performed in e^\pm p collisions at HERA. The search exploits data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 118.3 pb^-1. A model for the anomalous production of top quarks in a flavour changing neutral current process involving a t-u-gamma coupling is investigated. Decays of top quarks into a b quark and a W boson are considered in the leptonic and the hadronic decay channels of the W. Both a cut-based analysis and a multivariate likelihood analysis are performed to discriminate anomalous top quark production from Standard Model background processes. In the leptonic channel, 5 events are found while 1.31 \pm 0.22 events are expected from the Standard Model background. In the hadronic channel, no excess above the expectation for Standard Model processes is found. These observations lead to a cross section \sigma (ep -> e t X) = 0.29 +0.15 -0.14 pb at \sqrt{s} = 319 GeV. Alternatively, assuming that the observed events are due to a statistical fluctuation, upper limits of 0.55 pb on the anomalous top production cross section and of 0.27 on the t-u-gamma coupling \kappa_{t-u-gamma} are established at the 95% confidence level.

We present the general properties of jets produced bye+e− annihilation. Their production and fragmentation characteristics have been studied with charged particles for c.m. energies between 12 and 43 GeV. In this energy rangee+e− annihilation into hadrons is dominated by pair production of the five quarksu, d, s, c andb. In addition, hard gluon bremsstrahlung effects which are invisible at low energies become prominent at the high energies. The observed multiplicity distributions deviate from a Poisson distribution. The multiplicity distributions for the overall event as well as for each event hemisphere satisfy KNO scaling to within ∼20%. The distributions ofxp=2p/W are presented; scale breaking is observed at the level of 25%. The quantityxpdδ/dxp is compared with multigluon emission calculations which predict a Gaussian distribution in terms of ln(1/x). The observed energy dependence of the maximum of the distributions is in qualitative agreement with the calculations. Particle production is analysed with respect to the jet axis and longitudinal and transverse momentum spectra are presented. The angular distribution of the jet axis strongly supports the idea of predominant spin 1/2 quark pair production. The particle distributions with respect to the event plane show clearly the growing importance of planar events with increasing c.m. energies. They also exclude the presence of heavy quark production,e+e−→Q\(\bar Q\) for quark masses up to 5<mQ<20.3 GeV (|eQ|=2/3) and 7<mQ<19 GeV (|eQ|=1/3). The comparison of 1/σtotdδ/dpT measured at 14, 22 and 34 GeV suggests that hard gluon bremsstrahlung contributes mainly to transverse momenta larger than 0.5 GeV/c. The rapidity distribution forW≧22 GeV shows an enhancement away fromy=0 which corresponds to an increase in yield of 10–15% compared to the centre region (y=0). The enhancement probably results from heavy quark production and gluon bremsstrahlung. The particle flux around the jet axis shows with increasing c.m. energy a rapidly growing number of particles collimated around the jet axis, while at large angles to the jet axis almost noW dependence is observed. For fixed longitudinal momentump‖ approximate “fan invariance” is seen: The shape of the angular distribution around the jet axis is almost independent ofW. The collimation depends strongly onp‖. For smallp‖,p‖<0.2 GeV/c, isotropy is observed. With increasingp‖ the particles tend to be emitted closer and closer to the jet axis.

Single particles and jets in deeply inelastic scattering at low x are measured with the H1 detector in the region away from the current jet and towards the proton remnant, known as the forward region. Hadronic final state measurements in this region are expected to be particularly sensitive to QCD evolution effects. Jet cross-sections are presented as a function of Bjorken-x for forward jets produced with a polar angle to the proton direction, theta, in the range 7 < theta < 20 degrees. Azimuthal correlations are studied between the forward jet and the scattered lepton. Charged and neutral single particle production in the forward region are measured as a function of Bjorken-x, in the range 5 < theta < 25 degrees, for particle transverse momenta larger than 1 GeV. QCD based Monte Carlo predictions and analytical calculations based on BFKL, CCFM and DGLAP evolution are compared to the data. Predictions based on the DGLAP approach fail to describe the data, except for those which allow for a resolved photon contribution.

We have observed ϱ 0 production in e + e − annihilation to hadrons at high energies. The differential cross section at a centre of mass energy W , of 34 GeV, is presented. In the range 0.2< x < 0.7, we measure 0.33 ± 0.06 (stat.) ± 0.07 (syst.), 0.22 ± 0.06 ± 0.05 and 0.22 ± 0.02 ± 0.05 ϱ 0 /event at W = 14, 22 and 34 GeV respectively.

Results onK0 and Λ production ine+e− annihilation at c.m. energies of 14, 22 and 34 GeV are presented. The shape of theK0 and Λ differential cross sections are very similar to each other and to those of π±,K± and\(p(\bar p)\). Scaling violations are observed forK0 production. We obtain a value for the probability to produce strange quark-antiquark pairs relative to that to produce up or down quark-antiquark pairs of 0.35±0.02±0.05. The value ofRh=σ(e+e-→hX)/σµµ is shown to rise steadily with c.m. energy for all particle species. At 34 GeV we find 1.48±0.05K0 and 0.31±0.03 Λ per event. We have searched for possible Λ polarization. The production ofK0's and Λ's in jets is examined as a function ofpT2 and rapidity and compared to that of all charged particles; the yields in two and three jets are also investigated. Results are presented from events with two baryons\((\Lambda ,\bar \Lambda ,por\bar p)\) observed.

We have measured, at an average centre-of-mass energy of 34.22 GeV a forward-backward charge asymmetry in the reaction e + e − → μ + μ − of value −0.161 ± 0.032. This demonstrates the existence of an axial vector neutral current with coupling strength of g e a g μ a =0.53 ± 0.10. We have also obtained a limit on the vector coupling strength of g e v g μ v <0.12. The Weinberg angle is found to be sin 2 θ W =0.29 +0.09 −0.11 . From the reaction e + e − → τ + τ − we have found g e a g τ a <0.34, g e v g τ v <0.55.

The transition between photoproduction and deep-inelastic scattering is investigated in jet production at the HERA ep collider, using data collected by the H1 experiment. Measurements of the differential inclusive jet cross-sections dsigep/dEt* and dsigmep/deta*, where Et* and eta* are the transverse energy and the pseudorapidity of the jets in the virtual photon-proton centre of mass frame, are presented for 0 < Q2 < 49 GeV2 and 0.3 < y < 0.6. The interpretation of the results in terms of the structure of the virtual photon is discussed. The data are best described by QCD calculations which include a partonic structure of the virtual photon that evolves with Q2.

The leptoproduction of J/psi mesons is studied in inelastic reactions for four momentum transfers 2<Q^2<100GeV^2. The data were taken with the H1 detector at the electron proton collider HERA and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 77 pb-1. Single differential and double differential cross sections are measured with increased precision compared with previous analyses. New leading order calculations within the non-relativistic QCD factorisation approach including colour octet and colour singlet contributions are compared with the data and are found to give a reasonable description of most distributions. An exception is the shape of the distribution in the J/psi fractional energy, z, which deviates significantly from that of the data. Comparisons with photoproduction are made and the polarisation of the produced J/psi meson is analysed.

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<Q^2<80 GeV^2, x_pom<0.05 and p_(T,jet)>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.

The diffractive process ep \rightarrow eXY, where Y denotes a proton or its low mass excitation with MY < 1.6 GeV, is studied with the H1 experiment at HERA. The analysis is restricted to the phase space region of the photon virtuality 3 \leq Q2 \leq 1600 GeV2, the square of the four-momentum transfer at the proton vertex |t| < 1.0 GeV2 and the longitudinal momentum fraction of the incident proton carried by the colourless exchange xIP < 0.05. Triple differential cross sections are measured as a function of xIP, Q2 and beta = x/xIP where x is the Bjorken scaling variable. These measurements are made after selecting diffractive events by demanding a large empty rapidity interval separating the final state hadronic systems X and Y . High statistics measurements covering the data taking periods 1999-2000 and 2004-2007 are combined with previously published results in order to provide a single set of diffractive cross sections from the H1 experiment using the large rapidity gap selection method. The combined data represent a factor between three and thirty increase in statistics with respect to the previously published results. The measurements are compared with predictions from NLO QCD calculations based on diffractive parton densities and from a dipole model. The proton vertex factorisation hypothesis is tested.