A Precision Measurement of the Inclusive ep Scattering Cross Section at HERA

TL;DR

This paper presents a precise measurement of the inclusive e+p deep-inelastic scattering cross section at HERA, covering a specific Q^2 and x range, and uses the data to perform a next-to-leading order QCD analysis of proton parton distributions.

Contribution

It provides the most accurate measurement of the inclusive e+p scattering cross section in the specified kinematic range and updates the proton parton distribution functions with new data.

Findings

Measurement accuracy of 1.3-2% across the kinematic range

Combined data from different beam energies enhances precision

QCD analysis refines proton parton distribution functions

Abstract

A measurement of the inclusive deep-inelastic neutral current e+p scattering cross section is reported in the region of four-momentum transfer squared, 12<=Q^2<=150 GeV^2, and Bjorken x, 2x10^-4<=x<=0.1. The results are based on data collected by the H1 Collaboration at the ep collider HERA at positron and proton beam energies of E_e=27.6 GeV and E_p=920 GeV, respectively. The data are combined with previously published data, taken at E_p=820 GeV. The accuracy of the combined measurement is typically in the range of 1.3-2%. A QCD analysis at next-to-leading order is performed to determine the parton distributions in the proton based on H1 data.