Beauty Photoproduction using Decays into Muons at HERA

Abstract

<p>Inclusive cross-sections for the production of open beauty in ep collisions at HERA are measured. The data were recorded with the ZEUS detector between 1996 and 2000. The measurements are restricted to photoproduction processes, i.e. collision events with small four-momentum transfer squared, Q² ≈ 1 GeV. Two jets with transverse momentum p_T > 7(6) GeV and pseudo-rapidities |η| < 2.5 are required. The flavour is tagged by the identification of muons from semi-leptonic decays of the beauty quark. The variable used to discriminate between beauty and background is the transverse momentum of the muon with respect to the jet axis. The fraction of beauty is determined by a fit of Monte Carlo templates to the data. Cross-sections have been measured as a function of the muon and jet variables as well as a function of dijet correlation variables. Dijet correlations in beauty production have been measured for the first time in ZEUS and are found in agreement with QCD NLO predictions.</p>