Diffractive cross sections at HERA and diffractive PDFs

A large collection of results for the diffractive dissociation of virtual photons, γ⋆p→Xp, have been obtained with the H1 and ZEUS detectors at HERA. Different experimental techniques have been used, by requiring a large rapidity gap between X and the outgoing proton, by analyzing the mass distribution, MX, of the hadronic final state, as well as by directly tagging the proton. A reasonable compatibility between those techniques and between H1 and ZEUS results have been observed. Some common fundamental features in the measurements are also present in all data sets. They are detailed in this document. Diffractive PDFs can give a good account of those features. Ideas and results are discussed in the following.