Exclusive ρ0 production in deep inelastic scattering at HERA

Exclusive ρ0 electroproduction at HERA has been studied with the ZEUS detector using 120 pb−1 of integrated luminosity collected during 1996-2000. The analysis was carried out in the kinematic range of photon virtuality 2 < Q2 < 160 GeV2 and γ∗p centre-of-mass energy 32 < W < 180 GeV. The results include the Q2 and W dependence of the γ∗p → ρ0p cross section and the distribution of the squared-four-momentum transfer to the proton. The helicity analysis of the decay-matrix elements of the ρ0 was used to study the ratio of the γ∗p cross section for longitudinal and transverse photon as a function of Q2, W and t. Finally, an effective Pomeron trajectory was extracted.