Abstract.
The multiplicity structure of the hadronic system X produced in deep-inelastic processes at HERA of the type \(ep \rightarrow eXY\), where Y is a hadronic system with mass \(M_Y< 1.6\) GeV and where the squared momentum transfer at the pY vertex, t, is limited to \(|t|<1\,{\rm GeV}^2\), is studied as a function of the invariant mass \(M_X\) of the system X. Results are presented on multiplicity distributions and multiplicity moments, rapidity spectra and forward-backward correlations in the centre-of-mass system of X. The data are compared to results in \(e^+e^-\) annihilation, fixed-target lepton-nucleon collisions, hadro-produced diffractive final states and to non-diffractive hadron-hadron collisions. The comparison suggests a production mechanism of virtual photon dissociation which involves a mixture of partonic states and a significant gluon content. The data are well described by a model, based on a QCD-Regge analysis of the diffractive structure function, which assumes a large hard gluonic component of the colourless exchange at low \(Q^2\). A model with soft colour interactions is also successful.
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Received: 27 April 1998 / Published online: 3 September 1998
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H1 Collaboration., Adloff et al., C. Multiplicity structure of the hadronic final state in diffractive deep-inelastic scattering at HERA. Eur. Phys. J. C 5, 439–452 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/s100529800963
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s100529800963