Measurement of the Proton Structure Function F_2 and \sigma_{tot}^{\gamma^* p} at Low Q^2 and Very Low x at HERA

The ZEUS detector has been used to study dissociation of virtual photons in events with a leading proton, gamma^* p -> X p, in e^+p collisions at HERA. The data cover photon virtualities in two ranges, 0.03<Q^2<0.60 GeV^2 and 2<Q^2<100 GeV^2, with M_X>1.5 GeV, where M_X is the mass of the hadronic final state, X. Events were required to have a leading proton, detected in the ZEUS leading proton spectrometer, carrying at least 90% of the incoming proton energy. The cross secti...

The energy dependence of the photon-proton total cross section was determined from positron-proton scattering data collected with the ZEUS detector at HERA at three values of the center-of-mass energy, W, of the \gamma p system in the range 194<W<296 GeV. This is the first determination of the W dependence of the photon-proton total cross section from a single experiment at high W. Parameterizing \sigma tot(\gamma p) \alpha W^(2\epsilon), \epsilon = 0.111 \pm 0.009 (stat.) \p...

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.

A combination of the reduced $e^{\pm}p$ cross section, previously measured by H1 and ZEUS, has been performed and leads to well constrained QCD fits of the parton densities in the proton. These results, as well as the high-$Q^2$ neutral current deep inelastic scattering cross sections are presented. First direct measurements of the longitudinal structure function $F_L$ are also reported.

The numerical study of QED radiative corrections in the low x region for the H1 experiment at HERA was performed. The analytical program TERAD91 was used to obtain the values of the radiative correction factor for the first measurement of the proton structure function F2(x,Q2) in the range x= 10^{-2} - 10^{-4} and 5 < Q2 < 80 GeV2.

The latest results of the two HERA collaborations, H1 and ZEUS, are presented. They include the most recent measurements of the longitudinal structure funcion FL from both collaborations. Also presented are high Q2 measurements from the ZEUS collaboration in the high Bjorken x region up to values of x = 1.

Measurements of the proton structure function $F_2$ for $0.6 < Q^2 < 17 {GeV}^2$ and $1.2 \times 10^{-5} < x <1.9 \times 10^{-3}$ from ZEUS 1995 shifted vertex data are presented. From ZEUS $F_2$ data the slopes $dF_2/d\ln Q^2$ at fixed $x$ and $d\ln F_2/d\ln(1/x)$ for $x < 0.01$ at fixed $Q^2$ are derived. For the latter E665 data are also used. The transition region in $Q^2$ is explored using the simplest non-perturbative models and NLO QCD. The data at very low $Q^2$ $\leq...

The energy dependence of the photon-proton total cross section, sigma-tot, was determined from ep scattering data collected with the ZEUS detector at HERA at three values of the center-of-mass energy, W, of the gamma-p system in the range 194<W<296 GeV. This is the first determination of the W dependence of sigma-tot from a single experiment at high W. Parameterizing sigma-tot proportional to W^(2 epsilon), epsilon = 0.111 +/- 0.009 (stat.) +/- 0.036 (syst.) was obtained.

In the framework of conventional Regge theory we present a common description of total photon-proton cross-section and proton structure functions in the region $0 \leq Q^2 \leq 5 \ {\rm GeV}^2$. Using it as an initial condition in the perturbative QCD evolution equation, we describe structure functions at any $Q^2$ and $x$ - including the small $x$ region explored at HERA.

Data on low x physics from H1 & ZEUS are presented and their interpretation discussed. The focus is on the increasing hardness of the energy dependence of inclusive virtual-photon proton scattering and certain diffractive processes as the transverse size of the probe decreases.