Observation of the beam-size effect at HERA

A precise measurement of the spectrum of the photons from $ep$ bremsstrahlung with the ZEUS luminosity monitor at HERA is reported. The measurement shows a reduced rate compared to the Bethe-Heitler spectrum for photon energies below 5~GeV. This suppression, called the beam-size effect, is explained by the finite transverse size of the beam overlap relative to the typical impact parameter in the process of $ep$ bremsstrahlung at HERA energies.