Measurement of neutral and charged current cross sections in electron-proton collisions at high $$Q^2$$

Abstract. The inclusive $$e^- p$$ single and double differential cross sections for neutral and charged current processes are measured with the H1 detector at HERA, in the range of four-momentum transfer squared $$Q^2$$ between 150 and 30 000 GeV$$^2$$, and Bjorken x between 0.002 and 0.65. The data were taken in 1998 and 1999 with a centre-of-mass energy of 320 GeV and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 16.4 pb$$^{-1}$$. The data are compared with recent measurements of the inclusive neutral and charged current $$e^+ p$$ cross sections. For $$Q^2>1\,000{\rm GeV}^2$$ clear evidence is observed for an asymmetry between $$e^+p$$ and $$e^-p$$ neutral current scattering and the generalised structure function $$x{\tilde{F}_3}$$ is extracted for the first time at HERA. A fit to the charged current data is used to extract a value for the W boson propagator mass. The data are found to be in good agreement with Standard Model predictions.