The inelastic production of J/psi mesons in e p collisions has been studied with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 109 pb-1. The J/psi mesons were identified using the decay channel J/psi -> mu+ mu-. The measurements were performed in the kinematic range 2 < Q^2< 80 Gev^2, 50 < W < 250 Gev, 0.2 < z <0.9 and -1.6 < Ylab < 1.3, where Q^2 is the virtuality of the exchanged photon, W is the photon-proton centre-of-mass energy, z is the fraction of the photon energy carried by the J/psi meson in the proton rest frame and Ylab is the rapidity of the J/psi in the laboratory frame. The measured cross sections are compared to theoretical predictions within the non-relativistic QCD framework including colour-singlet and colour-octet contributions, as well as to predictions based on the kT-factorisation approach. Calculations of the colour-singlet process generally agree with the data, whereas inclusion of colour-octet terms spoils this agreement.

The photoproduction of $D^{*\pm} (2010)$ mesons associated with a leading neutron has been observed with the ZEUS detector in $ep$ collisions at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 80 pb$^{-1}$. The neutron carries a large fraction, {$x_L>0.2$}, of the incoming proton beam energy and is detected at very small production angles, {$\theta_n<0.8$ mrad}, an indication of peripheral scattering. The $D^*$ meson is centrally produced with pseudorapidity {$|\eta|<1.5$}, and has a transverse momentum {$p_{\it T} > 1.9$ GeV}, which is large compared to the average transverse momentum of the neutron of 0.22 GeV. The ratio of neutron-tagged to inclusive $D^*$ production is $8.85\pm 0.93({\rm stat.})^{+0.48}_{-0.61}({\rm syst.})\%$ in the photon-proton center-of-mass energy range {$130 <W<280$ GeV}. The data suggest that the presence of a hard scale enhances the fraction of events with a leading neutron in the final state.

The cross sections for charged and neutral current deep inelastic scattering in e^+p collisions with a longitudinally polarised positron beam have been measured using the ZEUS detector at HERA. The results, based on data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 23.8 pb^-1 at sqrt(s) = 318 GeV, are given for both e^+p charged current and neutral current deep inelastic scattering for both positive and negative values of the longitudinal polarisation of the positron beam. Single differential cross sections are presented for the kinematic region Q^2 > 200 GeV^2 . The measured cross sections are compared to the predictions of the Standard Model. A fit to the data yields sigma^CC (P_e = -1) = 7.4 +/- 3.9 (stat.) +/- 1.2 (syst.) pb, which is consistent within two standard deviations with the absence of right-handed charged currents in the Standard Model.

The production of $D^{*\pm}$ mesons in deep inelastic $ep$ scattering has been measured for exchanged photon virtualities $ 5<Q^2<1000 \gev^2 $, using an integrated luminosity of 363 pb$^{-1}$ with the ZEUS detector at HERA. Differential cross sections have been measured and compared to next-to-leading-order QCD calculations. The cross-sections are used to extract the charm contribution to the proton structure functions, expressed in terms of the reduced charm cross section, $\sigma_{\rm red}^{c\bar{c}}$. Theoretical calculations based on fits to inclusive HERA data are compared to the results.

Deep inelastic scattering and its diffractive component, ep -> e'gamma*p ->e'XN, have been studied at HERA with the ZEUS detector using an integrated luminosity of 4.2 pb-1. The measurement covers a wide range in the gamma*p c.m. energy W (37 - 245 GeV), photon virtuality Q2 (2.2 - 80 GeV2) and mass Mx. The diffractive cross section for Mx > 2 GeV rises strongly with W: the rise is steeper with increasing Q2. The latter observation excludes the description of diffractive deep inelastic scattering in terms of the exchange of a single Pomeron. The ratio of diffractive to total cross section is constant as a function of W, in contradiction to the expectation of Regge phenomenology combined with a naive extension of the optical theorem to gamma*p scattering. Above Mx of 8 GeV, the ratio is flat with Q2, indicating a leading-twist behaviour of the diffractive cross section. The data are also presented in terms of the diffractive structure function, F2D(3)(beta,xpom,Q2), of the proton. For fixed beta, the Q2 dependence of xpom F2D(3) changes with xpom in violation of Regge factorisation. For fixed xpom, xpom F2D(3) rises as beta -> 0, the rise accelerating with increasing Q2. These positive scaling violations suggest substantial contributions of perturbative effects in the diffractive DIS cross section.

Deep inelastic scattering and its diffractive component, $ep \to e^{\prime}\gamma^* p \to e^{\prime}XN$, have been studied at HERA with the ZEUS detector using an integrated luminosity of 52.4 pb$^{-1}$. The $M_X$ method has been used to extract the diffractive contribution. A wide range in the centre-of-mass energy $W$ (37 -- 245 GeV), photon virtuality $Q^2$ (20 -- 450 GeV$^2$) and mass $M_X$ (0.28 -- 35 GeV) is covered. The diffractive cross section for $2 < M_X < 15$ GeV rises strongly with $W$, the rise becoming steeper as $Q^2$ increases. The data are also presented in terms of the diffractive structure function, $F^{\rm D(3)}_2$, of the proton. For fixed $Q^2$ and fixed $M_X$, $\xpom F^{\rm D(3)}_2$ shows a strong rise as $\xpom \to 0$, where $\xpom$ is the fraction of the proton momentum carried by the Pomeron. For Bjorken-$x < 1 \cdot 10^{-3}$, $\xpom F^{\rm D(3)}_2$ shows positive $\log Q^2$ scaling violations, while for $x \ge 5 \cdot 10^{-3}$ negative scaling violations are observed. The diffractive structure function is compatible with being leading twist. The data show that Regge factorisation is broken.

Cross sections for e^+p neutral current deep inelastic scattering have been measured at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt{s}=318 GeV with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 63.2 pb^-1. The double-differential cross section, d^2sigma/dxdQ^2, is presented for 200 GeV^2 < Q^2 < 30000 GeV^2 and for 0.005 < x < 0.65. The single-differential cross-sections dsigma/dQ^2, dsigma/dx and dsigma/dy are presented for Q^2 > 200 GeV^2. The effect of Z-boson exchange is seen in dsigma/dx measured for Q^2 > 10000 GeV^2. The data presented here were combined with ZEUS e^+p neutral current data taken at sqrt{s}=300 GeV and the structure function F_2^{em} was extracted. All results agree well with the predictions of the Standard Model.

Charm production in deep inelastic scattering has been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 82 pb^{-1}. Charm has been tagged by reconstructing D^{*+}, D^0, D^{+} and D_s^+ (+ c.c.) charm mesons. The charm hadrons were measured in the kinematic range p_T(D^{*+},D^0,D^{+}) > 3 GeV, p_T(D_s^+)>2 GeV and |\eta(D)| < 1.6 for 1.5 < Q^2 < 1000 GeV^2 and 0.02 < y < 0.7. The production cross sections were used to extract charm fragmentation ratios and the fraction of c quarks hadronising into a particular charm meson in the kinematic range considered. The cross sections were compared to the predictions of next-to-leading-order QCD, and extrapolated to the full kinematic region in p_T(D) and \eta(D) in order to determine the open-charm contribution, F_2^{c\bar{c}}(x,Q^2), to the proton structure function F_2.

Exclusive rho^0 electroproduction at HERA has been studied with the ZEUS detector using 120 pb^{-1} of integrated luminosity collected during 1996-2000. The analysis was carried out in the kinematic range of photon virtuality 2 < Q^2 < 160 GeV$^2, and gamma^* p centre-of-mass energy 32 < W < 180 GeV. The results include the Q^2 and W dependence of the gamma^* p --> rho^0 p cross section and the distribution of the squared-four-momentum transfer to the proton. The helicity analysis of the decay-matrix elements of the rho^0 was used to study the ratio of the gamma^* p cross section for longitudinal and transverse photon as a function of Q^2 and W. Finally, an effective Pomeron trajectory was extracted. The results are compared to various theoretical predictions.

The dissociation of virtual photons, $\gamma^{\star} p \to X p$, in events with a large rapidity gap between $X$ and the outgoing proton, as well as in events in which the leading proton was directly measured, has been studied with the ZEUS detector at HERA. The data cover photon virtualities $Q^2>2$ GeV$^2$ and $\gamma^{\star} p$ centre-of-mass energies $40&lt;W&lt;240$ GeV, with $M_X>2$ GeV, where $M_X$ is the mass of the hadronic final state, $X$. Leading protons were detected in the ZEUS leading proton spectrometer. The cross section is presented as a function of $t$, the squared four-momentum transfer at the proton vertex and $\Phi$, the azimuthal angle between the positron scattering plane and the proton scattering plane. It is also shown as a function of $Q^2$ and $\xpom$, the fraction of the proton's momentum carried by the diffractive exchange, as well as $\beta$, the Bjorken variable defined with respect to the diffractive exchange.