Leading proton production in e^+p collisions at HERA

TL;DR

This study investigates the production of leading protons in electron-proton collisions at HERA, analyzing how the proton's momentum and transverse momentum vary across different photon virtualities.

Contribution

It provides detailed measurements of leading proton production across various Q^2 ranges, enhancing understanding of proton fragmentation in ep collisions.

Findings

Leading protons carry a large fraction of the proton beam momentum.

The production rate varies with photon virtuality Q^2.

Results support models of diffraction and proton fragmentation.

Abstract

Events with a final-state proton carrying a large fraction of the proton-beam momentum, x_L>0.6, and the square of the transverse momentum p_T^2 <0.5 GeV^2, have been studied in e^+p collisions with the ZEUS detector at HERA. Data with different photon virtualities were used: Q^2<0.02 GeV^2, 0.1 <Q^2<0.74 GeV^2 and 3<Q^2<254 GeV^2.