Measurement of dijet cross sections for events with a leading neutron in photoproduction at HERA

TL;DR

This paper reports measurements of dijet photoproduction cross sections with a leading neutron at HERA, testing models of neutron production and factorization in high-energy ep collisions.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed measurement of dijet cross sections with a leading neutron in photoproduction at HERA, comparing results to theoretical models.

Findings

Data broadly consistent with factorization hypothesis.

Results support one-pion-exchange model predictions.

Measured cross sections align with theoretical expectations.

Abstract

Differential cross sections for dijet photoproduction in association with a leading neutron using the reaction e^+ + p --> e^+ + n + jet + jet + X_r have been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 6.4 pb^{-1}. The fraction of dijet events with a leading neutron in the final state was studied as a function of the jet kinematic variables. The cross sections were measured for jet transverse energies E^{jet}_T > 6 GeV, neutron energy E_n > 400 GeV, and neutron production angle theta_n < 0.8 mrad. The data are broadly consistent with factorization of the lepton and hadron vertices and with a simple one-pion-exchange model.