The proton and deuteron structure functions F2p and F2d are measured in inelastic muon scattering with an average beam energy of 470 GeV. The data were taken at Fermilab experiment E665 during 1991 and 1992 using liquid hydrogen and deuterium targets. The F2 measurements are reported in the range 0.0008<x<0.6 and 0.2<Q2<75 GeV2. These are the first precise measurements of F2 in the low x and Q2 range of the data. In the high x range of the data where they overlap in x and Q2 with the measurements from NMC, the two measurements are in agreement. The E665 data also overlap in x with the DESY HERA data, and there is a smooth connection in Q2 between the two data sets. At high Q2 the E665 measurements are consistent with QCD-evolved leading twist structure function models. The data are qualitatively described by structure function models incorporating the hadronic nature of the photon at low Q2. The Q2 and the W dependence of the data measure the transition in the nature of the photon between a pointlike probe at high Q2 and a hadronic object at low Q2.

The diffractive production of ρ0(770 @#@) mesons in muon-proton interactions is studied in the kinematic region 0.15 GeV2< Q2< 20 GeV2 and 20 GeV < ? < 420 GeV. The data were obtained in the Fermilab fixed-target experiment E665 with primary muons of 470 GeV energy. Results are presented on the Q2, x and ? dependence of the cross section, on the shape of the ρ+ρt - mass spectrum, on the slope of the diffraction peak and on the production and decay angular distributions of the ρ0(770). The cross section for diffractive production of ρ0 by virtual photons on protons depends mainly on Q2. At fixed Q2, no significant dependence on x or ? is observed. The extrapolation to Q2 = 0 yields a photoproduction cross section of (10.30 ± 0.33) μb. The slope of the t′ distribution has a value of (7.0 ± 0.2) GeV−2, with a tendency to decrease as Q2 increases. The production and decay angular distributions of the ρ0 depend strongly on Q2 and are consistent with s-channel helicity conservation. The ratio R = σl/σt deduced from the decay angular distributions rises strongly with Q2, passing the value of 1 at Q2≈ 2 GeV2.

We detected 1–10 MeV neutrons at laboratory angles from 80° to 140° in coincidence with 470 GeV muons deep inelastically scattered from H, D, C, Ca, and Pb targets. The neutron energy spectrum for Pb can be fitted with two components with temperature parameters of 0.7 and 5.0 MeV. The average neutron multiplicity for 40<ν<400 GeV is about 5 for Pb, and less than 2 for Ca and C. These data are consistent with a process in which the emitted hadrons do not interact with the rest of the nucleus within distances smaller than the radius of Ca, but do interact within distances on the order of the radius of Pb in the measured kinematic range. For all targets the lack of high nuclear excitation is surprising.

Nuclear shadowing is observed in the per-nucleon cross-sections of positive muons on carbon, calcium and lead as compared to deuterium. The data were taken by Fermilab experiment E665 using inelastically scattered muons of mean incident momentum 470 GeV/c. Cross-section ratios are presented in the kinematic region 0.0001 < XBj <0.56 and 0.1 < Q**2 < 80 GeVc. The data are consistent with no significant nu or Q**2 dependence at fixed XBj. As XBj decreases, the size of the shadowing effect, as well as its A dependence, are found to approach the corresponding measurements in photoproduction.

A measurement of continuum dimuon production in proton-copper collisions at 800-GeV incident energy is presented. The dimuons observed in this experiment cover the mass range from 6.5 to 18 GeV near y=0 in the proton-nucleon center-of-momentum frame. Scaling forms of the cross section for the continuum are compared with the results of other experiments in the context of the parton model and quantum chromodynamics. The present limitations of such scaling comparisons are discussed.

Experimental results on the production of dimuons by 800-GeV protons incident on a copper target are presented. The results include measurements of both the continuum of dimuons and the dimuon decays of the three lowest-mass ϒ S states. A description of the apparatus, data acquisition, and analysis techniques is included. A comparison of the results with data taken at lower incident energies indicates a scaling behavior of the continuum dimuon yields.

We have measured the cross section for production of ψ and ψ′ in p¯ and π− interactions with Be, Cu, and W targets in experiment E537 at Fermilab. The measurements were performed at 125 GeV/c using a forward dimuon spectrometer in a closed geometry configuration. The gluon structure functions of the p¯ and π− have been extracted from the measured dσdxF spectra of the produced ψ's. From the p¯W data we obtain, for p¯, xG(x)=(2.15±0.7)[1−x](6.83±0.5)[1+(5.85±0.95)x]. In the π− case, we obtain, from the W and the Be data separately, xG(x)=(1.49±0.03)[1−x](1.98±0.06) (for π−W), xG(x)=(1.10±0.10)[1−x](1.20±0.20) (for π−Be).

The production of the Jψ resonance in 125-GeV/c p¯ and φ− interactions with Be, Cu, and W targets has been measured. The cross section per nucleon for Jψ production is suppressed in W interactions relative to the lighter targets, especially at large values of Feynman x, which is opposite to the expectation from the various explanations of the European Muon Collaboration effect. Models incorporating modifications of the gluon structure functions in heavy targets show qualitative agreement with the data.

We have studied D* production mechanisms using data from a photoproduction experiment at the Fermilab Tagged Photon Spectrometer. A large sample of charged D*’s was selected via the clean signature of the cascade decay D*→D0π+ and subsequently D0→K−π+ or D0→K−π+π0. The cross section for the process γp→(D*++anything)p at an average energy of 105 GeV was measured to be 88±32 nb. Only (11±7)% of D*’s were found to be consistent with being accompanied solely by a D¯* or a D¯; the remaining events contain additional particles. The distribution of the production angle of the D* in the photon-fragmentation-system center of mass is strongly anisotropic and consistent with the form f(θ*)=cos4θ*. We set a limit on the associated-production-process cross section σ(γp→(D¯*−+anything)Λc) x)<60 nb (90% C.L.).

Inelastic and elastic $J/\psi$ photoproduction on hydrogen are investigated at a mean energy of 105 GeV. The inelastic cross section with $E_{\psi} / E_{\gamma}$ < 0.9 is significantly lower than the corresponding result for muoproduction on iron targets, but is consistent with a second-order perturbative QCD calculation.