Open Heavy Flavor Production in Deeply Inelastic ep Scattering at HERA

TL;DR

This paper summarizes recent measurements of open heavy flavor production in deep inelastic ep scattering at HERA, demonstrating boson gluon fusion dominance and providing data on charm structure functions, with implications for QCD models.

Contribution

It provides new experimental data on open charm production at HERA and compares results with LO and NLO QCD predictions, highlighting boson gluon fusion dominance.

Findings

Evidence for boson gluon fusion as the main production mechanism.

Measurements of F_2^{cc}(x,Q^2) at small Bjorken x.

Agreement with QCD predictions within uncertainties.

Abstract

Recent results on inclusive D^0 and D^{*+-} production in deeply inelastic ep scattering at sqrt(s)=301 GeV are summarized. The data have been collected by the H1 and ZEUS experiments at HERA. The total and the differential cross sections are discussed in the framework of LO and NLO QCD predictions. The data exhibit clear evidence for boson gluon fusion dominating open heavy flavor production in the kinematic range currently explored at HERA. The measurements of F_2^{cc}(x,Q^2) at small Bjorken x are presented. The prospects for future analyses of open charm and beauty production including detector upgrades and anticipated high luminosities are investigated.