Colour-Singlet Exchange in ep Interactions

Abstract

Results presented at the DIS97 workshop by the H1, ZEUS and E665 collaborations on processes yielding large rapidity gaps and energetic leading baryons are reviewed. A consistent picture begins to emerge in which diffractive processes dominate when the fractional longitudinal momentum loss at the baryon vertex $\xpom$ is small, with substantial contributions from other processes as $\xpom$ increases. The diffractive mechanism in the deep-inelastic regime is found, both from inclusive measurements and final state studies, to involve the exchange of a gluon carrying a large fraction of the exchange momentum. Vector meson results show the transition from soft to hard production mechanisms with increasing precision.