Measurement of leading neutron production in deep-inelastic scattering at HERA

Abstract

The production of leading neutrons, where the neutron carries a large fraction x L of the incoming proton's longitudinal momentum, is studied in deep-inelastic positron-proton scattering at HERA. The data were taken with the H1 detector in the years 2006 and 2007 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 122 pb -1 . The semiinclusive cross section is measured in the phase space defined by the photon virtuality 6 < Q 2 < 100 GeV 2 , Bjorken scaling variable 1.5 10 -4 < x < 3 10 -2 , longitudinal momentum fraction 0.32 < x L < 0.95 and neutron transverse momentum p T < 0.2 GeV. The leading neutron structure function, F LN ( Assuming