Measurement of elastic J/psi photoproduction at HERA

The reaction a p --> J/psi p has been studied in epsilon p interactions using the ZEUS detector at HERA. The cross section for elastic J/psi photoproduction has been measured as a function of the photon-proton centre of mass energy W in the range 40 < W < 140 GeV at a median photon virtuality Q(2) of 5 x 10(-5) GEV(2). The photoproduction cross section, sigma(ap-->J/psi p), is observed to rise steeply with W. A fit to the data presented in this paper to determine the parameter delta in the form sigma(ap-->J/psi p) proportional to W-delta yields the value delta=0.92+/-0.14+/-0.10. The differential cross section d sigma/d\t\ is presented over the range \t\ < 1.0 GEV(2) where t is the square of the four-momentum exchanged at the proton vertex. d sigma/d\t\ falls exponentially with a slope parameter of 4.6+/-0.4(-0.6)(+0.4) GEV(-2). The measured decay angular distrubitions are consistent with 8-channel helicity conservation.