Measurement of the open-charm contribution to the diffractive proton structure function

TL;DR

This paper measures the production of D* mesons in diffractive deep inelastic scattering at HERA, providing insights into the open-charm contribution to the proton's diffractive structure function and its sensitivity to parton densities.

Contribution

It presents the first detailed measurement of open-charm contribution to the diffractive structure function using ZEUS data, highlighting sensitivity to diffractive parton densities.

Findings

Measured differential cross sections for D* production in diffractive scattering.

Compared experimental results with theoretical predictions.

Demonstrated strong sensitivity to diffractive parton densities.

Abstract

Production of D*+/-(2010) mesons in diffractive deep inelastic scattering has been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 82 pb^{-1}. Diffractive events were identified by the presence of a large rapidity gap in the final state. Differential cross sections have been measured in the kinematic region 1.5 < Q^2 < 200 GeV^2, 0.02 < y < 0.7, x_{IP} < 0.035, beta < 0.8, p_T(D*+/-) > 1.5 GeV and |\eta(D*+/-)| < 1.5. The measured cross sections are compared to theoretical predictions. The results are presented in terms of the open-charm contribution to the diffractive proton structure function. The data demonstrate a strong sensitivity to the diffractive parton densities.