Signals for Virtual Leptoquark Exchange at HERA

Abstract

We study the effects of virtual leptoquarks on charged current and neutral current processes at the $ep$ collider HERA. We present the areas of parameter space that can be excluded at HERA by searching for deviations from Standard Model expectations. The best results are obtained by examining the ratio of neutral current to charged current cross sections, $R=σ_{NC}/σ_{CC}$, where, with $200\inpb$ of integrated luminosity for unpolarized $e^-$ and $e^+$ beams, HERA can search for leptoquarks with masses up to $\sim 800\gev$, with leptoquark coupling strengths of order $α_{em}$.