A new measurement of inclusive-jet cross sections in the Breit frame in neutral current deep inelastic scattering using the ZEUS detector at the HERA collider is presented. The data were taken in the years 2004 to 2007 at a centre-of-mass energy of $318\,\text{GeV}$ and correspond to an integrated luminosity of $347\,\text{pb}^{-1}$. Massless jets, reconstructed using the $k_t$-algorithm in the Breit reference frame, have been measured as a function of the squared momentum transfer, $Q^2$, and the transverse momentum of the jets in the Breit frame, $p_{\perp,\text{Breit}}$. The measured jet cross sections are compared to previous measurements and to perturbative QCD predictions. The measurement has been used in a next-to-next-to-leading-order QCD analysis to perform a simultaneous determination of parton distribution functions of the proton and the strong coupling, resulting in a value of $\alpha_s(M_Z^2) = 0.1142 \pm 0.0017~\text{(experimental/fit)}$${}^{+0.0006}_{-0.0007}~\text{(model/parameterisation)}$${}^{+0.0006}_{-0.0004}~\text{(scale)}$, whose accuracy is improved compared to similar measurements. In addition, the running of the strong coupling is demonstrated using data obtained at different scales.
Correlation matrix of the unfolding uncertainty within the inclusive-jet cross-section measurement. Correlations are given in percent.
Correlation matrix of the unfolding uncertainty between the inclusive-jet measurement and the previous dijet measurement. Correlations are given in percent.
Summary of different determinations of $\alpha_s(M_Z^2)$ at NNLO or higher order, adapted from PDG, see references therein. The red points are included in the PDG world average. The averages from each sub-field are shown as yellow bands and the world average as a blue band. A recent measurement from CMS using jet cross sections and the latest determination from HERAPDF, which are not yet included in the world average, are shown in green. The current determination, assuming half-correlated and half-uncorrelated scale uncertainties, is shown in black.