Inclusive-jet photoproduction at HERA and determination of alpha(s)

Abstract Inclusive-jet cross sections have been measured in the reaction e p → e + jet + X for photon virtuality Q 2 1 GeV 2 and γp centre-of-mass energies in the region 142 W γ p 293 GeV with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 300 pb − 1 . Jets were identified using the k T , anti- k T or SIScone jet algorithms in the laboratory frame. Single-differential cross sections are presented as functions of the jet transverse energy, E T jet , and pseudorapidity, η jet , for jets with E T jet > 17 GeV and − 1 η jet 2.5 . In addition, measurements of double-differential inclusive-jet cross sections are presented as functions of E T jet in different regions of η jet . Next-to-leading-order QCD calculations give a good description of the measurements, except for jets with low E T jet and high η jet . The influence of non-perturbative effects not related to hadronisation was studied. Measurements of the ratios of cross sections using different jet algorithms are also presented; the measured ratios are well described by calculations including up to O ( α s 2 ) terms. Values of α s ( M Z ) were extracted from the measurements and the energy-scale dependence of the coupling was determined. The value of α s ( M Z ) extracted from the measurements based on the k T jet algorithm is α s ( M Z ) = 0.1206 − 0.0022 + 0.0023 ( exp . ) − 0.0035 + 0.0042 ( th . ) ; the results from the anti- k T and SIScone algorithms are compatible with this value and have a similar precision.