On the rise of the proton structure function F2 towards Low x
A measurement of the derivative ( ∂ ln F 2 / ∂ ln x ) Q 2 ≡− λ ( x , Q 2 ) of the proton structure function F 2 is presented in the low x domain of deeply inelastic positron–proton scattering. For 5×10 −5 ⩽ x ⩽0.01 and Q 2 ⩾1.5 GeV 2 , λ ( x , Q 2 ) is found to be independent of  x and to increase linearly with ln Q 2 .

title: Search for excited neutrinos at HERA
abstract: We present a search for excited neutrinos using ep data taken by the H1 experiment at HERA at a center-of-mass energy of 318 GeV with an integrated luminosity of 15 pb1. No evidence for excited neutrino production is found. Mass dependent exclusion limits are determined for the ratio of the coupling to the compositeness scale, f/, independently of the relative couplings to the SU(2) and U(1) gauge bosons. These limits extend the excluded region to higher masses than has been possible in previous searches at other colliders.

title: Diffractive Jet Production in Deep-Inelastic $e^{+}p$ Collisions at HERA
abstract: A measurement is presented of dijet and 3-jet cross sections in low-\(|t|\) diffractive deep-inelastic scattering interactions of the type \(ep \rightarrow eXY\), where the system X is separated by a large rapidity gap from a low-mass baryonic system Y. Data taken with the H1 detector at HERA, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 18.0 pb\(^{-1}\), are used to measure hadron level single and double differential cross sections for \(4 4 \rm GeV\). The energy flow not attributed to jets is also investigated. The measurements are consistent with a factorising diffractive exchange with trajectory intercept close to 1.2 and tightly constrain the dominating diffractive gluon distribution. Viewed in terms of the diffractive scattering of partonic fluctuations of the photon, the data require the dominance of \(q\overline{q}g\) over \(q\overline{q}\) states. Soft colour neutralisation models in their present form cannot simultaneously reproduce the shapes and the normalisations of the differential cross sections. Models based on 2-gluon exchange are able to reproduce the shapes of the cross sections at low \(x_\mathbb{P}\) values.

title: Three-jet production in deep-inelastic scattering at HERA
abstract: Three-jet production is studied for the first time in deep-inelastic positron–proton scattering. The measurement carried out with the H1 detector at HERA covers a large range of four-momentum transfer squared 5 2 000 GeV 2 and invariant three-jet masses 25 3 jet ≲140 GeV . Jets are defined by the inclusive k ⊥ algorithm in the Breit frame. The size of the three-jet cross section and the ratio of the three-jet to the dijet cross section R 3/2 are described over the whole phase space by the predictions of perturbative QCD in next-to-leading order. The shapes of angular jet distributions deviate significantly from a uniform population of the available phase space but are well described by the QCD calculation.

title: Search for leptoquark bosons in ep collisions at HERA
abstract: A search for scalar and vector leptoquarks coupling to first generation fermions is performed using the e(+) p and e(-) p scattering data collected by the H1 experiment between 1994 and 2000. The data correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 117 pb(-1). No evidence for the direct or indirect production of such particles is found in data samples with a large transverse momentum final state electron or with large missing transverse momentum. Constraints on leptoquark models are established. For leptoquark couplings of electromagnetic strength, leptoquarks with masses up to 275-325 GeV are ruled out at 95% confidence level. These limits improve and supercede earlier H1 limits based on subsamples of the data used here.

title: Inelastic photoproduction of J/psi mesons at HERA
abstract: An analysis of inelastic photoproduction of \(J/\psi\) mesons is presented using data collected at the ep collider HERA corresponding to an integrated luminosity of above 80 pb-1. Differential and double differential cross sections are measured in a wide kinematic region: \(60 < W_{\gamma p} < 260\) GeV,\(1 < p_{t, \psi}^2 < 60 {\rm GeV}^2\) and 0.05<z<0.9, where z is the fraction of the energy of the exchanged photon transferred to the \(J/\psi\) meson in the rest frame of the target proton. Cross sections at \(z\lesssim 0.3\) are presented for the first time. Theoretical calculations within the Colour Singlet Model at NLO for direct photon processes are shown to give a good description of the data in the medium z region (0.3<z<0.9) up to the highest \(p_{t, \psi}^2\) values. A calculation using a kt factorisation approach in LO in the Colour Singlet Model is also able to describe these data. The data in the full z range are also compared to LO calculations within a non-relativistic QCD framework including colour octet and colour singlet contributions for direct and resolved photons. It seems possible to reconcile data and theory with modest contributions from colour octet processes. The polarisation of the \(J/\psi\) meson is measured as a function of z and \(p_{t, \psi}\) and is reasonably described by the theoretical predictions.

title: The Role of Dust in GRB Afterglows
abstract: We show that the clumpy structure of star-forming regions can naturally explain the fact that 50-70% of GRB afterglows are optical``dark.'' We also show that dust echos from the GRB and its afterglow, produced by the clumpy structure of the star-forming region in which the GRB occurs, can lead to temporal variability and peaks in the NIR, optical, and UV lightcurves of GRB afterglows.

title: Effects of the Geometry of the Line-forming Region on the Properties of Cyclotron Resonant Scattering Lines
abstract: We use a Monte Carlo radiative transfer code to examine the dependence of the properties of cyclotron resonant scattering lines on the spatial geometry and the optical depth of the line-forming region. We focus most of our attention on a line-forming region that is a plane-parallel slab threaded by a uniform magnetic field oriented at an angle Ψ to the slab normal. We also consider a cylindrical line-forming region with the magnetic field oriented along the cylinder axis. In both cases, the line-forming region contains an electron-proton plasma at the equilibrium Compton temperature, TC, and the field strength is ~1012 gauss. We consider geometries in which the photon source illuminates the line-forming region from below and in which the photon source is embedded in the line-forming region. The former may correspond to a line-forming region in the magnetosphere of a neutron star, illuminated from below, the latter to a line-forming region on or near the surface of a neutron star as in an accretion column. We calculate the cyclotron line spectra produced by line-forming regions having a range of Thomson optical depths from τTo = 8 × 10-4 to τTo = 10. Our findings have implications for accretion-powered pulsars and gamma-ray bursters. In particular, the absence of pronounced shoulders on both sides of the cyclotron first harmonic line in the spectra of accretion-powered pulsars suggests that the line-forming region is either illuminated from below or has a large optical depth (Thomson optical depth τTo 10). However, we (like earlier workers) find that models in which the line-forming region is either a static slab or a static cylinder and has a large optical depth are unable to explain the modest equivalent widths WE of the cyclotron lines in the observed spectra of accretion-powered pulsars. In addition, we find that approximating the injected photon spectrum as a Wien spectrum, an approximation made by almost all workers to date, is not valid because of the frequency dependence of the cyclotron scattering cross section below the cyclotron fundamental. Consequently, future work in this area should explore physical effects that have not been included so far, such as the plasma flow velocity in the accretion column and the injected photon spectrum resulting from energy deposition in the surface layers of the neutron star; more complicated geometries, such as accretion mounds and multiple component magnetic fields; and alternative models, such as cyclotron scattering in the magnetosphere. We find that slab line-forming regions in which the magnetic field is parallel to the slab are able to produce narrow lines with large equivalent widths WE, suggesting that the lines observed in the X-ray spectra of some gamma-ray bursts might be able to be formed not only in plasma near the magnetic poles of a neutron star but also in plasma trapped at the magnetic equator of the star.

title: GLOBAL PROPERTIES OF X-RAY FLASHES AND X-RAY-RICH GAMMA-RAY BURSTS OBSERVED BY SWIFT
abstract: We describe and discuss the spectral and temporal characteristics of the prompt emission and X-ray afterglow emission of X-ray flashes (XRFs) and X-ray-rich gamma-ray bursts (XRRs) detected and observed by Swift between 2004 December and 2006 September. We compare these characteristics to a sample of conventional classical gamma-ray bursts (C-GRBs) observed during the same period. We confirm the correlation between Epeakobs and fluence noted by others and find further evidence that XRFs, XRRs, and C-GRBs form a continuum. We also confirm that our known redshift sample is consistent with the correlation between the peak energy in the GRB rest frame (Epeaksrc) and the isotropic radiated energy (Eiso), the so-called Epeaksrc-Eiso relation. The spectral properties of X-ray afterglows of XRFs and C-GRBs are similar, but the temporal properties of XRFs and C-GRBs are quite different. We found that the light curves of C-GRB afterglows show a break to steeper indices (shallow-to-steep break) at much earlier times than do XRF afterglows. Moreover, the overall luminosity of XRF X-ray afterglows is systematically smaller by a factor of 2 or more compared to that of C-GRBs. These distinct differences between the X-ray afterglows of XRFs and C-GRBs may be the key to understanding not only the mysterious shallow-to-steep break in X-ray afterglow light curves, but also the unique nature of XRFs.

title: Physical properties of hot, dense matter: The bulk equilibrium approximation
abstract: Starting from a Skyrme effective nucleon-nucleon interaction, we calculate the properties of hot matter at densities up to a little beyond that of nuclear matter. We neglect effects associated with finite nuclear size, such as surface and Coulomb energies, but include all effects associated with the bulk properties of the neutron-proton matter over a range of proton concentrations. The region of coexistence of two distinct nuclear phases is mapped out, as a function of the average proton fraction of the two-phase mixture. We present the neutron and proton chemical potentials, and the densities and proton fractions of the two coexisting phases, as functions of density and temperature. The density dependence of the nuclear contribution to the pressure is given along isotherms for a range of proton fractions. Including electron, positron and photon contributions to the entropy, we calculate the density dependence of the pressure along adiabats, and discuss the distribution of the entropy among the components. Some information is also given about hot matter in β-equilibrium. Comparison is made with earlier work.

title: Jet Models of X-Ray Flashes
abstract: One third of all HETE-2--localized bursts are X-Ray Flashes (XRFs), a class of events first identified by Heise in which the fluence in the 2-30 keV energy band exceeds that in the 30-400 keV energy band. We summarize recent HETE-2 and other results on the properties of XRFs. These results show that the properties of XRFs, X-ray-rich gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), and GRBs form a continuum, and thus provide evidence that all three kinds of bursts are closely related phenomena. As the most extreme burst population, XRFs provide severe constraints on burst models and unique insights into the structure of GRB jets, the GRB rate, and the nature of Type Ib/Ic supernovae. We briefly mention a number of the physical models that have been proposed to explain XRFs. We then consider two fundamentally different classes of phenomenological jet models: universal jet models, in which it is posited that all GRBs jets are identical and that differences in the observed properties of the bursts are due entirely to differences in the viewing angle; and variable-opening angle jet models, in which it is posited that GRB jets have a distribution of jet opening angles and that differences in the observed properties of the bursts are due to differences in the emissivity and spectra of jets having different opening angles. We consider three shapes for the emissivity as a function of the viewing angle theta_v from the axis of the jet: power-law, top hat (or uniform), and Gaussian (or Fisher). We then discuss the effect of relativistic beaming on each of these models. We show that observations can distinguish between these various models.