Some tests for the helicity structure of the Pomeron in ep collisions

Abstract

We discuss the reaction ep→epp˜X in the onephoton exchange approximation, where it is in essence the reaction γ*p→p˜X. A large rapidity gap is required between the particle or particles of the proton remnant pJ and those of X. We define a suitable azimuthal angle between a leptonic and a hadronic plane. The dependence of the cross section on is given explicitly and can be used to extract cross sections and interference terms for the reactionγ*p→p˜X corresponding to the various helicities of the virtual photon γ*. The interference terms can be used to test models for the large rapidity gap events in a sensitive way. We discuss in detail models with factorizing Pomeron exchange and in particular the Donnachie- Landshoff Pomeron model. We make some remarks on soft colour exchange models and on possible effects of QCD background vacuum fields. We conclude with a suggestion to look for Odderon exchange in exclusive deep inelastic high energy reactions like γ*p→,p˜π⁰and ğp→p˜η.