Q^2 dependence of diffractive vector meson electroproduction

Martin, A. D.; Ryskin, M. G.; Teubner, T.

Q^2 dependence of diffractive vector meson electroproduction

Authors

Martin, A. D.

Ryskin, M. G.

Teubner, T.

Description

We give a general formula for the cross section for diffractive vector meson electroproduction, gamma^* p -> Vp. We first calculate diffractive qqbar production, and then use parton-hadron duality by projecting out the J^P = 1^- state in the appropriate mass interval. We compare the Q^2 dependence of the cross section for the diffractive production of rho and J/psi mesons with recent HERA data. We include the characteristic Q^2 dependence associated with the use of the skewed gluon distribution. We give predictions for sigma_L/sigma_T for both rho and J/psi production.
15 pages, LaTeX, including five PostScript figures