Review of multimuon production by muons

Abstract

Production of 2, 3, 4, and 5‐muon final states by high‐energy muons at Fermilab and CERN SPS is reviewed. Sixty‐three 4μ, 5μ, and odd‐sign 3μ final states have been observed. Corresponding limits on muoproduction of Υ, bb, and M0 are summarized. Precise data on the Q2 and ν‐dependence of muoproduced elastic‐ψ, inelastic‐ψ, and open‐charm states are presented. Elastic and inelastic μ muoproduction results are extended to include distributions in production and decay angle, elasticity, and momentum transfer to hadrons. Calculations using the lowest‐order photon‐gluon‐fusion graph can be adjusted to reroduce the ν‐dependence of elastic ψ production, the ν and Q2 dependence of open charm production, and the combined (hidden+open) charm production cross section. Unfortunately, the model does not account for the angular distributions and Q2‐dependence observed for elastic ψ production. Unless inhibited by order‐of‐magnitude threshold effects, the ‘‘the intrinsic charm’’ model predicts more copious open charm ...