Leptoquarks and Compositeness Scales from a Contact Interaction Analysis of Deep Inelastic $e^\pm \, p$ Scattering at HERA

A contact interaction analysis is presented to search for new phenomena beyond the Standard Model in deep inelastic $e^\pm p \rightarrow e^\pm \, hadrons$ scattering. The data are collected with the H1 detector at HERA and correspond to integrated luminosities of $0.909 \ {\rm pb}^{-1}$ and $2.947 \ {\rm pb}^{-1}$ for electron and positron beams, respectively. The differential cross sections $d\sigma / dQ^2$ are measured in the $Q^2$ range bet\-ween $160 \ \GeV^2$ and $20,000 \ \GeV^2$. The absence of any significant deviation from the Standard Model prediction is used to constrain the couplings and masses of new leptoquarks and to set limits on electron--quark compositeness scales and on the radius of light quarks.