Neutral and charged current cross section measurements and searches for new physics at HERA

TL;DR

This paper reports on HERA's measurements of electron-proton interactions, searches for new physics beyond the Standard Model, and sets exclusion limits where no deviations are observed.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive analysis of neutral and charged current cross sections and explores potential signals of exotic physics at HERA.

Findings

No deviations from Standard Model observed

Set exclusion limits on leptoquarks and R-parity violating SUSY

Constraints on contact interaction models

Abstract

HERA is the only high energy electron-proton collider in the world today and hence has unique opportunities both to probe the structure of the proton and to search for physics beyond the Standard Model. Results are presented for measurements of both neutral and charged current cross sections, and for searches for exotic processes involving direct electron-quark interactions (leptoquarks and R-parity violating SUSY), generic coupling models (contact interactions) and exclusive final states (isolated leptons and missing PT, single top production and pentaquarks). Exclusion limits on proposed models are set where no deviation from Standard Model predictions are found.