Forward π°-meson production at HERA

High transverse momentum π°-mesons have been measured with the H1 detector at HERA in deep-inelastic ep scattering events at low Bjorken-x, down to x≈4·10−5. The measurement is performed in a region of small angles with respect to the proton remnant in the laboratory frame of reference, namely the forward region, and corresponds to central rapidity in the centre of mass system of the virtual photon and proton. This region is expected to be particularly sensitive to QCD effects in hadronic final states. Differential cross-sections for inclusive π°-meson production are presented as a function of Bjorken-x and the four-momentum transfer squared, Q2, and as a function of transverse momentum and pseudorapidity. A recent numerical BFKL calculation and predictions from QCD models based on DGLAP parton evolution are compared with the data.