Diffractive photoproduction of dijets was measured with the ZEUS detector at the ep collider HERA using an integrated luminosity of 77.2 pb-1. The measurements were made in the kinematic range Q^2 < 1 GeV^2, 0.20 < y < 0.85 and x_pom < 0.025, where Q^2 is the photon virtuality, y is the inelasticity and x_pom is the fraction of the proton momentum taken by the diffractive exchange. The two jets with the highest transverse energy, E_T^jet, were required to satisfy E_T^jet > 7.5 and 6.5 GeV, respectively, and to lie in the pseudorapidity range -1.5 < eta^jet < 1.5. Differential cross sections were compared to perturbative QCD calculations using available parameterisations of diffractive parton distributions of the proton.
The production of neutrons carrying at least 20% of the proton beam energy ($\xl > 0.2$) in $e^+p$ collisions has been studied with the ZEUS detector at HERA for a wide range of $Q^2$, the photon virtuality, from photoproduction to deep inelastic scattering. The neutron-tagged cross section, $e p\to e' X n$, is measured relative to the inclusive cross section, $e p\to e' X$, thereby reducing the systematic uncertainties. For $\xl >$ 0.3, the rate of neutrons in photoproduction is about half of that measured in hadroproduction, which constitutes a clear breaking of factorisation. There is about a 20% rise in the neutron rate between photoproduction and deep inelastic scattering, which may be attributed to absorptive rescattering in the $\gamma p$ system. For $0.64 < \xl < 0.82$, the rate of neutrons is almost independent of the Bjorken scaling variable $x$ and $Q^2$. However, at lower and higher $\xl$ values, there is a clear but weak dependence on these variables, thus demonstrating the breaking of limiting fragmentation. The neutron-tagged structure function, ${{F}^{\rm\tiny LN(3)}_2}(x,Q^2,\xl)$, rises at low values of $x$ in a way similar to that of the inclusive \ff of the proton. The total $\gamma \pi$ cross section and the structure function of the pion, $F^{\pi}_2(x_\pi,Q^2)$ where $x_\pi = x/(1-\xl)$, have been determined using a one-pion-exchange model, up to uncertainties in the normalisation due to the poorly understood pion flux. At fixed $Q^2$, $F^{\pi}_2$ has approximately the same $x$ dependence as $F_2$ of the proton.
At the electron-proton collider HERA the inclusive $D~{*\pm}$ meson photoproduction cross section has been measured with the H1 detector in two different, but partly overlapping, kinematical regions. For the first, where $\langle W_{\gamma p}\rangle \approx 200$\ GeV and $Q~2 < 0.01\,\gev~2$, the result is $\sigma(\gamma p \rightarrow c \bar{c} X) = (13.2 \pm 2.2 ~{+2.1}_{-1.7}\, ~{+9.9}_{-4.8})\,\mu b$. The second measurement for $Q~2 < 4\,\gev~2$ yields $\sigma(\gamma p \rightarrow c \bar{c} X) = ( 9.3 \pm 2.1 ~{+1.9}_{-1.8}\, ~{+6.9}_ {-3.2} )\,\mu b$ at $\langle W_{\gamma p}\rangle \approx 142$\,GeV and $\sigma(\gamma p \rightarrow c \bar{c} X) = ( 20.6 \pm 5.5 ~ {+4.3}_{-3.9}\, ~{+15.4}_{-7.2})\,\mu b$ at $\langle W_{\gamma p} \rangle \approx 230$\,GeV, respectively. The third error accounts for an additional uncertainty due to the proton and photon parton density parametrizations. Differential cross sections are presented as a function of the $D~{*\pm}$ transverse momentum and rapidity. The results compare reasonably well with next-to-leading order QCD calculations. Evidence for diffractive photoproduction of charm quark is presented.
Properties of the hadronic final state in photoproduction events with large transverse energy are studied at the electron-proton collider HERA. Distributions of the transverse energy, jets and underlying event energy are compared to $\overline{p}p$ data and QCD calculations. The comparisons show that the $\gamma p$ events can be consistently described by QCD models including -- in addition to the primary hard scattering process -- interactions between the two beam remnants. The differential jet cross sections $d\sigma/dE_T~{jet}$ and $d\sigma/d\eta~{jet}$ are measured.
Inclusive photoproduction of $\dspm$ in ep collisions at HERA has been measured with the ZEUS detector for photon-proton centre of mass energies in the range \linebreak \wrang and photon virtuality Q~2 < 4 \g2. The cross section $\sigma_{ep \to \ds X} $ integrated over the kinematic region \ptrangand \etarang is {\xsecs}. Differential cross sections as functions of $p_{\perp}~{\ds}$, $\eta~{\ds}$ and W are given. The data are compared with two next-to-leading order perturbative QCD predictions. For a calculation using a massive charm scheme the predicted cross sections are smaller than the measured ones. A recent calculation using a massless charm scheme is in agreement with the data.
The dependence of dijet production on the virtuality of the exchanged photon, Q^2, has been studied by measuring dijet cross sections in the range 0 < Q^2 < 2000 GeV^2 with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 38.6 pb^-1. Dijet cross sections were measured for jets with transverse energy E_T^jet > 7.5 and 6.5 GeV and pseudorapidities in the photon-proton centre-of-mass frame in the range -3 < eta^jet <0. The variable xg^obs, a measure of the photon momentum entering the hard process, was used to enhance the sensitivity of the measurement to the photon structure. The Q^2 dependence of the ratio of low- to high-xg^obs events was measured. Next-to-leading-order QCD predictions were found to generally underestimate the low-xg^obs contribution relative to that at high xg^obs. Monte Carlo models based on leading-logarithmic parton-showers, using a partonic structure for the photon which falls smoothly with increasing Q^2, provide a qualitative description of the data.
The photoproduction of beauty quarks in events with two jets and a muon has been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 110 pb$^{- 1}$. The fraction of jets containing b quarks was extracted from the transverse momentum distribution of the muon relative to the closest jet. Differential cross sections for beauty production as a function of the transverse momentum and pseudorapidity of the muon, of the associated jet and of $x_{\gamma}^{jets}$, the fraction of the photon's momentum participating in the hard process, are compared with MC models and QCD predictions made at next-to-leading order. The latter give a good description of the data.
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