We report a high-statistics measurement of differential cross sections for the process gamma gamma -> pi^0 pi^0 in the kinematic range 0.6 GeV <= W <= 4.0 GeV and |cos theta*| <= 0.8, where W and theta* are the energy and pion scattering angle, respectively, in the gamma gamma center-of-mass system. Differential cross sections are fitted to obtain information on S, D_0, D_2, G_0 and G_2 waves. The G waves are important above W ~= 1.6 GeV. For W <= 1.6 GeV the D_2 wave is dominated by the f_2(1270) resonance while the S wave requires at least one additional resonance besides the f_0(980), which may be the f_0(1370) or f_0(1500). The differential cross sections are fitted with a simple parameterization to determine the parameters (the mass, total width and Gamma_{gamma gamma}B(f_0 -> pi^0 pi^0)) of this scalar meson as well as the f_0(980). The helicity 0 fraction of the f_2(1270) meson, taking into account interference for the first time, is also obtained.

The differential cross section for the process $\gamma \gamma \to \eta \pi^0$ has been measured in the kinematic range $0.84 \GeV < W < 4.0 \GeV$, $|\cos \theta^*|<0.8$, where $W$ and $\theta^*$ are the energy and $\pi^0$ (or $\eta$) scattering angle, respectively, in the $\gamma\gamma$ center-of-mass system. The results are based on a 223 fb$^{-1}$ data sample collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB $e^+ e^-$ collider. Clear peaks due to the $a_0(980)$ and $a_2(1320)$ are visible. The differential cross sections are fitted in the energy region $0.9 \GeV < W < 1.46 \GeV$ to obtain the parameters of the $a_0(980)$. Its mass, width and $\Gamma_{\gamma \gamma} \B (\eta \pi^0)$ are measured to be $982.3 ^{+0.6}_{-0.7} ^{+3.1}_{-4.7} \MeV/c^2$, $75.6 \pm 1.6 ^{+17.4}_{-10.0} \MeV$ and $128 ^{+3}_{-2} ^{+502}_{-43} \eV$, respectively. The energy and angular dependences above 3.1 GeV are compared with those measured in the $\pi^0 \pi^0$ channel. The integrated cross section over $|\cos \theta^*|<0.8$ has a $W^{-n}$ dependence with $n = 10.5 \pm 1.2 \pm 0.5$, which is slightly larger than that for $\pi^0 \pi^0$. The differential cross sections show a $\sin^{-4} \theta^*$ dependence similar to $\gamma \gamma \to \pi^0 \pi^0$. The measured cross section ratio, $\sigma(\eta \pi^0)/\sigma(\pi^0 \pi^0) = 0.48 \pm 0.05 \pm 0.04$, is consistent with a QCD-based prediction.

We report on a high statistics measurement of the total and differential cross sections of the process gamma gamma -> pi^+ pi^- in the pi^+ pi^- invariant mass range 0.8 GeV/c^2 < W < 1.5 GeV/c^2 with 85.9 fb^{-1} of data collected at sqrt{s}=10.58 GeV and 10.52 GeV with the Belle detector. A clear signal of the f_0(980) resonance is observed in addition to the f_2(1270) resonance. An improved 90% confidence level upper limit Br.(eta'(958) -> pi^+ pi^-) < 2.9 x 10^{-3} is obtained for P- and CP-violating decay of the eta'(958) meson using the most conservative assumption about the interference with the background.

Three-jet production in deep inelastic ep scattering and photoproduction was investigated with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 127 pb-1. Measurements of differential cross sections are presented as functions of angular correlations between the three jets in the final state and the proton-beam direction. These correlations provide a stringent test of perturbative QCD and show sensitivity to the contributions from different colour configurations. Fixed-order perturbative QCD calculations assuming the values of the colour factors C_F, C_A and T_F as derived from a variety of gauge groups were compared to the measurements to study the underlying gauge group symmetry. The measured angular correlations in the deep inelastic ep scattering and photoproduction regimes are consistent with the admixture of colour configurations as predicted by SU(3) and disfavour other symmetry groups, such as SU(N) in the limit of large N.

We present a study of J ψ meson production in collisions of 26.7 GeV electrons with 820 GeV protons, performed with the H1-detector at the HERA collider at DESY. The J ψ mesons are detected via their leptonic decays both to electrons and muons. Requiring exactly two particles in the detector, a cross section of σ(ep → J ψ X) = (8.8±2.0±2.2) nb is determined for 30 GeV ≤ W γp ≤ 180 GeV and Q 2 ≲ 4 GeV 2 . Using the flux of quasi-real photons with Q 2 ≲ 4 GeV 2 , a total production cross section of σ ( γp → J / ψX ) = (56±13±14) nb is derived at an average W γp =90 GeV. The distribution of the squared momentum transfer t from the proton to the J ψ can be fitted using an exponential exp(− b ∥ t ∥) below a ∥ t ∥ of 0.75 GeV 2 yielding a slope parameter of b = (4.7±1.9) GeV −2 .

The production of energetic neutrons in $ep$ collisions has been studied with the ZEUS detector at HERA. The neutron energy and $p_T^2$ distributions were measured with a forward neutron calorimeter and tracker in a $40 \pb^{-1}$ sample of inclusive deep inelastic scattering (DIS) data and a $6 \pb^{-1}$ sample of photoproduction data. The neutron yield in photoproduction is suppressed relative to DIS for the lower neutron energies and the neutrons have a steeper $p_T^2$ distribution, consistent with the expectation from absorption models. The distributions are compared to HERA measurements of leading protons. The neutron energy and transverse-momentum distributions in DIS are compared to Monte Carlo simulations and to the predictions of particle exchange models. Models of pion exchange incorporating absorption and additional secondary meson exchanges give a good description of the data.

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.

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.