Limits on contact interactions and leptoquarks at HERA

High-precision HERA data corresponding to a luminosity of around 1 fb$^{-1}$ have been used in the framework of $eeqq$ contact interactions (CI) to set limits on possible high-energy contributions beyond the Standard Model to electron-quark scattering. Measurements of the inclusive deep inelastic cross sections in neutral and charged current $ep$ scattering were considered. The analysis of the $ep$ data has been based on simultaneous fits of parton distribution functions including contributions of CI couplings to $ep$ scattering. Several general CI models and scenarios with heavy leptoquarks were considered. Improvements in the description of the inclusive HERA data were obtained for a few models. Since a statistically significant deviation from the Standard Model cannot be established, limits in the TeV range were set on all models considered.
24 pages, 6 tables, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review D