Measurement of neutral current ep cross sections at high x with the ZEUS detector

TL;DR

This paper presents precise measurements of neutral current ep cross sections at high Bjorken x and Q2 using ZEUS data, testing Standard Model predictions with improved methods and data volume.

Contribution

It provides the first high-precision measurements of neutral current cross sections at x up to 1, utilizing an improved reconstruction method and larger dataset.

Findings

Measurements agree with Standard Model expectations

Enhanced binning reveals detailed cross section behavior at high x

Data supports current parton distribution functions at high Q2

Abstract

The latest results of the ZEUS collaboration on the high Q2, the exchanged boson virtuality, high Bjorken x region up to values of x = 1 are presented. Differential cross sections in x and Q2 are given for Q2 > 725 GeV2. An improved reconstruction method and a substantially increased amount of data allow a finer binning in the high-x region of the neutral current cross section and lead to a measurement with much improved precision compared to a similar earlier analysis. The measurements are compared to Standard Model expectations based on a variety of recent parton distribution functions.