Exclusive electroproduction of rho^0 mesons has been measured using the ZEUS detector at HERA in two Q^2 ranges, 0.25<Q^2<0.85 GeV^2 and 3<Q^2<30 GeV^2. The low-Q^2 data span the range 20<W<90 GeV; the high-Q^2 data cover the 40<W<120 GeV interval. Both samples extend up to four-momentum transfers of |t|=0.6 GeV^2. The distribution in the azimuthal angle between the positron scattering plane and the rho^0 production plane shows a small but significant violation of s-channel helicity conservation, corresponding to the production of longitudinally polarised (i.e. helicity zero) rho^0 mesons from transverse photons. Measurements of the 15 combinations of spin-density matrix elements which completely define the angular distributions are presented and discussed.
The spin-density matrix elements obtained from the BPC low Q**2 data set.
The spin-density matrix elements obtained from the DIS high Q**2 data set.
The spin-density matrix elements obtained from the low Q**2 BPC data set in two W intervals.
The differential cross section $d\sigma/dt$ for elastic $\rho~0$ photoproduction, $\gamma p \rightarrow \rho~0 p (\rho~0 \rightarrow \pi~+ \pi~-)$, has been measured in $ep$ interactions at HERA. The squared four-momentum exchanged at the proton vertex, $t$, has been determined directly by measuring the momentum of the scattered proton using the ZEUS Leading Proton Spectrometer (LPS), a large scale system of silicon micro-strip detectors operating close to the HERA proton beam. The LPS allows the measurement of the momentum of high energy protons scattered at small angles with accuracies of 0.4% for the longitudinal momentum and 5 MeV for the transverse momentum. Photoproduction of $\rho~0$ mesons has been investigated in the interval $0.073< |t| <0.40 GeV~2$, for photon virtualities $Q~2<1 GeV~2$ and photon-proton centre-of-mass energies $W$ between 50 and 100 GeV. In the measured range, the $t$ distribution exhibits an exponential shape with a slope parameter $b = 9.8 \pm 0.8 (stat.) \pm 1.1 (syst.) GeV~{-2}$. The use of the LPS eliminates the contamination from events with diffractive dissociation of the proton into low mass states.
SLOPE OF THE DSIG/DT distribution.
Total cross section integrated over t region.
Additional cross section, SIG, not given in the paper.
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