The European Physical Journal C

ISSN: 1434-6044 (printed version)
ISSN: 1434-6052 (electronic version)

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Abstract Volume 1 Issue 1/2 (1998) pp 81-96

experimental physics:
Measurement of the diffractive structure function $F_2^{D(4)}$ at HERA

ZEUS Collaboration , J. Breitweg et al.

Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL, USA

Received: 17 September 1997

Abstract. This paper presents the first analysis of diffractive photon dissociation events in deep inelastic positron-proton scattering at HERA in which the proton in the final state is detected and its momentum measured. The events are selected by requiring a scattered proton in the ZEUS leading proton spectrometer (LPS) with $x_L>0.97$, where $x_L$ is the fraction of the incoming proton beam momentum carried by the scattered proton. The use of the LPS significantly reduces the contamination from events with diffractive dissociation of the proton into low mass states and allows a direct measurement of $t$, the square of the four-momentum exchanged at the proton vertex. The dependence of the cross section on $t$ is measured in the interval $0.073<|t|<0.4~{\rm GeV}^2$ and is found to be described by an exponential shape with the slope parameter $b=7.2 \pm 1.1({\rm stat.})^{+0.7}_{-0.9}({\rm syst.})\, {\rm GeV}^2$. The diffractive structure function $F^{D(4)}_2$ is presented as a function of $x_{{\Bbb P}} \simeq 1-x_L$ and $\beta$, the momentum fraction of the struck quark with respect to $x_{\Bbb P}$, and averaged over the $t$ interval $0.073<|t|<0.4~{\rm GeV}^2$ and the photon virtuality range $5

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Online publication: December 11, 1997
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