Inclusive diffraction at HERA with a measured leading proton

Abstract

Diffractive dissociation of virtual photons, γ * p → Xp, has been studied in ep interactions at HERA with the H1 and ZEUS detectors. The scattered proton is measured in spectrometers positioned downstream around the proton beampipe. The cross section is presented as a function of the four-momentum transfer squared t and the azimuthal angle between the electron scattering plane and the proton scattering plane. The data are analyzed in terms of the diffractive structure function F D(3) 2 (x IP , β, Q 2 ).