InclusiveD0 andD*± production in neutral current deep inelasticep scattering at HERA

First results on inclusive$$\mathop {D^0 }\limits^{( - )} $$ andD*± production in neutral current deep inelasticep scattering are reported using data collected by the H1 experiment at HERA in 1994. Differential cross sections are presented for both channels and are found to agree well with QCD predictions based on the boson gluon fusion process. A charm production cross section for 10 GeV2≤Q2≤100 GeV2 and 0.01≤y≤0.7 of$$\sigma (ep \to ec\bar cX) = (17.4 \pm 1.6 \pm 1.7 \pm 1.4) nb$$ is derived. A first measurement of the charm contribution$$F_2^{c\bar c} (x,Q^2 )$$ to the proton structure function for Bjorkenx between 8·10−4 and 8·10−3 is presented. In this kinematic range a ratio$$F_2^{c\bar c} /F_2 = 0.237 \pm 0.021 \pm 0.041$$ is observed.