Exclusive photoproduction of $\rho^0(770)$ mesons is studied using the H1 detector at the $ep$ collider HERA. A sample of about 900000 events is used to measure single- and double-differential cross sections for the reaction $\gamma p \to \pi^{+}\pi^{-}Y$. Reactions where the proton stays intact (${m_Y{=}m_p}$) are statistically separated from those where the proton dissociates to a low-mass hadronic system ($m_p{<}m_Y{<}10$ GeV). The double-differential cross sections are measured as a function of the invariant mass $m_{\pi\pi}$ of the decay pions and the squared $4$-momentum transfer $t$ at the proton vertex. The measurements are presented in various bins of the photon-proton collision energy $W_{\gamma p}$. The phase space restrictions are $0.5 < m_{\pi\pi} < 2.2$ GeV, ${\vert t\vert < 1.5}$ GeV${}^2$, and ${20 < W_{\gamma p} < 80}$ GeV. Cross section measurements are presented for both elastic and proton-dissociative scattering. The observed cross section dependencies are described by analytic functions. Parametrising the $m_{\pi\pi}$ dependence with resonant and non-resonant contributions added at the amplitude level leads to a measurement of the $\rho^{0}(770)$ meson mass and width at $m_\rho = 770.8\ {}^{+2.6}_{-2.7}$ (tot) MeV and $\Gamma_\rho = 151.3\ {}^{+2.7}_{-3.6}$ (tot) MeV, respectively. The model is used to extract the $\rho^0(770)$ contribution to the $\pi^{+}\pi^{-}$ cross sections and measure it as a function of $t$ and $W_{\gamma p}$. In a Regge asymptotic limit in which one Regge trajectory $\alpha(t)$ dominates, the intercept $\alpha(t{=}0) = 1.0654\ {}^{+0.0098}_{-0.0067}$ (tot) and the slope $\alpha^\prime(t{=}0) = 0.233\ {}^{+0.067 }_{-0.074 }$ (tot) GeV${}^{-2}$ of the $t$ dependence are extracted for the case $m_Y{=}m_p$.

Diffractive electroproduction of rho and phi mesons is measured at HERA with the H1 detector in the elastic and proton dissociative channels. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 51 pb^-1. About 10500 rho and 2000 phi events are analysed in the kinematic range of squared photon virtuality 2.5 &lt; Q^2 &lt; 60 GeV^2, photon-proton centre of mass energy 35 &lt; W &lt; 180 GeV and squared four-momentum transfer to the proton |t| &lt; 3 GeV^2. The total, longitudinal and transverse cross sections are measured as a function of Q^2, W and |t|. The measurements show a transition to a dominantly "hard" behaviour, typical of high gluon densities and small q\bar{q} dipoles, for Q^2 larger than 10 to 20 GeV^2. They support flavour independence of the diffractive exchange, expressed in terms of the scaling variable (Q^2 + M_V^2)/4, and proton vertex factorisation. The spin density matrix elements are measured as a function of kinematic variables. The ratio of the longitudinal to transverse cross sections, the ratio of the helicity amplitudes and their relative phases are extracted. Several of these measurements have not been performed before and bring new information on the dynamics of diffraction in a QCD framework. The measurements are discussed in the context of models using generalised parton distributions or universal dipole cross sections.

A measurement of elastic deeply virtual Compton scattering gamma* p -> gamma p using e^+ p and e^- p collision data recorded with the H1 detector at HERA is presented. The analysed data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 306 pb^-1, almost equally shared between both beam charges. The cross section is measured as a function of the virtuality Q^2 of the exchanged photon and the centre-of-mass energy W of the gamma* p system in the kinematic domain 6.5 &lt; Q^2 &lt; 80 GeV^2, 30 &lt; W &lt; 140 GeV and |t| &lt; 1 GeV^2, where t denotes the squared momentum transfer at the proton vertex. The cross section is determined differentially in t for different Q^2 and W values and exponential t-slope parameters are derived. Using e^+ p and e^- p data samples, a beam charge asymmetry is extracted for the first time in the low Bjorken x kinematic domain. The observed asymmetry is attributed to the interference between Bethe-Heitler and deeply virtual Compton scattering processes. Experimental results are discussed in the context of two different models, one based on generalised parton distributions and one based on the dipole approach.

Inclusive non-diffractive photoproduction of rho(770)^0, K^*(892)^0 and phi(1020) mesons is investigated with the H1 detector in ep collisions at HERA. The corresponding average \gamma p centre-of-mass energy is 210 GeV. The mesons are measured in the transverse momentum range 0.5&lt;p_T&lt;7 GeV and the rapidity range |y_{lab}|&lt;1. Differential cross sections are presented as a function of transverse momentum and rapidity, and are compared to the predictions of hadroproduction models.

A measurement of elastic deeply virtual Compton scattering gamma* p -> gamma p using e-p collision data recorded with the H1 detector at HERA is presented. The analysed data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 145 pb^-1. The cross section is measured as a function of the virtuality Q^2 of the exchanged photon and the centre-of-mass energy W of the gamma*p system in the kinematic domain 6.5 &lt; Q^2 &lt; 80 GeV^2, 30 &lt; W &lt; 140 GeV and |t| &lt; 1 GeV^2, where t denotes the squared momentum transfer at the proton vertex. The cross section is determined differentially in t for different Q^2 and W values and exponential t-slope parameters are derived. The measurements are compared to a NLO QCD calculation based on generalised parton distributions. In the context of the dipole approach, the geometric scaling property of the DVCS cross section is studied for different values of t.

Cross sections for elastic production of J/Psi mesons in photoproduction and electroproduction are measured in electron proton collisions at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 55 pb^{-1}. Results are presented for photon virtualities Q^2 up to 80 GeV^2. The dependence on the photon-proton centre of mass energy W_{gamma p} is analysed in the range 40 < \Wgp < 305 GeV in photoproduction and 40 < \Wgp < 160 GeV in electroproduction. The \Wgp dependences of the cross sections do not change significantly with Q^2 and can be described by models based on perturbative QCD. Within such models, the data show a high sensitivity to the gluon density of the proton in the domain of low Bjorken x and low Q^2. Differential cross sections d\sigma/dt, where t is the squared four-momentum transfer at the proton vertex, are measured in the range |t|<1.2 GeV^2 as functions of \Wgp and Q^2. Effective Pomeron trajectories are determined for photoproduction and electroproduction. The J/Psi production and decay angular distributions are consistent with s-channel helicity conservation. The ratio of the cross sections for longitudinally and transversely polarised photons is measured as a function of Q^2 and is found to be described by perturbative QCD based models.

A measurement is presented of elastic deeply virtual Compton scattering \gamma* p \to \gamma p made using e^+ p collision data corresponding to a luminosity of 46.5 pb^{-1}, taken with the H1 detector at HERA. The cross section is measured as a function of the photon virtuality, Q^2, the invariant mass of the \gamma* p system, W, and for the first time, differentially in the squared momentum transfer at the proton vertex, t, in the kinematic range 2 < Q^2 < 80 GeV^2, 30 < W < 140 GeV and |t| < 1 GeV^2. QCD based calculations at next-to-leading order using generalized parton distributions can describe the data, as can colour dipole model predictions.

A measurement of the beauty production cross section in ep collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 319 GeV is presented. The data were collected with the H1 detector at the HERA collider in the years 1999-2000. Events are selected by requiring the presence of jets and muons in the final state. Both the long lifetime and the large mass of b-flavoured hadrons are exploited to identify events containing beauty quarks. Differential cross sections are measured in photoproduction, with photon virtualities Q^2 < 1 GeV^2, and in deep inelastic scattering, where 2 < Q^2 < 100 GeV^2. The results are compared with perturbative QCD calculations to leading and next-to-leading order. The predictions are found to be somewhat lower than the data.

The cross section for anti-deuteron photoproduction is measured at HERA at a mean centre-of-mass energy of W_{\gamma p} = 200 GeV in the range 0.2 < p_T/M < 0.7 and |y| < 0.4, where M, p_T and y are the mass, transverse momentum and rapidity in the laboratory frame of the anti-deuteron, respectively. The numbers of anti-deuterons per event are found to be similar in photoproduction to those in central proton-proton collisions at the CERN ISR but much lower than those in central Au-Au collisions at RHIC. The coalescence parameter B_2, which characterizes the likelihood of anti-deuteron production, is measured in photoproduction to be 0.010 \pm 0.002 \pm 0.001, which is much higher than in Au-Au collisions at a similar nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy. No significant production of particles heavier than deuterons is observed and upper limits are set on the photoproduction cross sections for such particles.

The diffractive photoproduction of J/psi mesons is measured with the H1 detector at the ep collider HERA using an integrated luminosity of 78 pb^-1. The differential cross section d sigma(gamma p -> J/psi Y) / d t is studied in the range 2 < |t| < 30 GeV^2, where t is the square of the four-momentum transferred at the proton vertex. The cross section is also presented as a function of the photon-proton centre-of-mass energy W in three t intervals, spanning the range 50 < W < 200 GeV. A fast rise of the cross section with W is observed for each t range and the slope for the effective linear Pomeron trajectory is measured to be alpha^\prime= -0.0135 \pm 0.0074 (stat.) \pm 0.0051 (syst.) GeV^-2. The measurements are compared with perturbative QCD models based on BFKL and DGLAP evolution. The data are found to be compatible with s-channel helicity conservation.