Inclusive Diffraction at HERA

TL;DR

This paper investigates the nature of diffraction in ep interactions at HERA, analyzing the diffractive structure function, cross sections, and Pomeron intercepts to understand the transition from perturbative to photoproduction regimes.

Contribution

It provides new measurements of the diffractive structure function, cross sections, and Pomeron intercepts, offering insights into the transition between perturbative and non-perturbative diffraction regimes.

Findings

Measured the t-dependence of the diffractive cross section.

Compared Pomeron intercepts from diffractive and inclusive interactions.

Constrained the Q2 dependence of diffraction from 0.17 to 0.70 GeV2.

Abstract

The diffractive dissociation of virtual photons, gamma*p -> Xp, has been studied in ep interactions at HERA with the H1 and ZEUS detectors. The data are presented in terms of the diffractive structure function F2D and of the diffractive cross sections dsigma/dt and dsigma/dMX. The t-dependence of the cross section is measured. The Pomeron intercepts extracted from diffractive and inclusive ep interactions are compared. The result is further interpreted studying the dependence of the ratio between the diffractive to the inclusive cross section on the photon-proton center of mass energy. Recent data on the Q2 dependence of the diffractive cross section at 0.17 < Q2 < 0.70 GeV2 constrain the transition in diffraction from the perturbative high Q2 region to the photoproduction limit.