Measurement of diffractive production of D-*+/- (2010) mesons in deep-inelastic scattering at HERA

Diffractive production of D*+/-(2010) mesons in deep inelastic scattering has been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 44.3 pb(-1). Diffractive charm production is identified by the presence of a large rapidity gap in the final state of events in which a D*+/- (2010) meson is reconstructed in the decay channel D*+/- --> (D-0 --> K(-)pi(+))pi(s)(+) (+ charge conjugate). Differential cross sections when compared with theoretical predictions indicate the importance of gluons in such diffractive interactions. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V All rights reserved