Heavy Meson Production Research Articles

Study of gluon GPDs in exclusive J/ψ production in electron-proton scattering

Exclusive photoproduction of heavy J/ψ meson is performed within the handbag factorization method. The general parton distributions (GPDs) for gluons, which are an essential ingredient here, are constructed using double distribution (DD) representation. The calculated cross section for few sets of gluon GPDs Hg describe fine J/ψ production experimental data from HERA to LHC energies. Based on this approach we estimate J/ψ spin asymmetries determined by Eg and H˜g. The GPDs factorization approach can be employed to analyze heavy vector meson production in electron-proton scattering. Investigations of this reactions at future electron-ion colliders in USA and China can give essential information on gluon GPDs. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Asymmetric intrinsic charm in the nucleon and its implications for the D0 production in the LHCb p+Ne20 fixed-target experiment

Recent results indicate that charm quarks are intrinsic components of the proton wave function, and that the charm and anticharm distributions for a given value of the Bjorken-x variable can be different. In this paper, we will investigate the impact of this asymmetric intrinsic charm on the production of D0 and D¯0 mesons for fixed target p+Ne20 collisions at the LHCb. In our calculations, we include the contribution of the gluon-gluon fusion, gluon-charm and recombination processes and assume distinct models for the treatment of the intrinsic charm component. We demonstrate that the presence of an intrinsic charm improves the description of the current data for the rapidity and transverse momentum distributions of D mesons. However, such models are not able to describe the LHCb data for the D0−D¯0 asymmetry at large transverse momentum, which point out that the description of the intrinsic charm needs to be improved and/or new effects should be taken into account in the production of heavy mesons at forward rapidities in fixed-target collisions. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Initial-state and final-state effects on hadron production in small collision systems

Heavy meson production in reactions with nuclei is an active new frontier to understand QCD dynamics and the process of hadronization in nuclear matter. Measurements in various colliding systems at RHIC and LHC, including Pb-Pb, Xe-Xe, O-O, p-Pb, and p-O, enable precision tests of the medium-size, temperature, and mass dependencies of the in-medium parton propagation and shower formation. We employ a coupled DGLAP evolution framework that takes advantage of splitting functions recently obtained in softcollinear effective theory with Glauber gluons (SCETG) and hard thermal loop (HTL) motivated collisional energy loss effects. With jet quenching effects constrained to the nuclear modification factor of charged hadrons in Pb-Pb collisions at 5.02 TeV, we present predictions for light and heavy-meson in Xe-Xe, O-O and p-Pb collisions at the LHC.We find that the nuclear modification scales non-trivially with the quark mass and medium properties. In particular, there can be sizeable collision-induced attenuation of heavy mesons in small systems such as oxygen-oxygen and high-multiplicity p-Pb events. Finally, we analyze the impact of different models of initial-state parton dynamics on the search for QGP signatures in small colliding systems.

Relativistic Theory of Paired Heavy Meson and Baryon Production

Relativistic Theory of Paired Heavy Meson and Baryon Production

D ∗ jet fragmentation function paradox and combination mechanism

In the framework of the perturbative Quantum Chromodynamics factorization, the production of a hadron includes contributions from fragmentation as well as combination, with the latter being of higher twist. In particular, the heavy meson production can be via the combination of a heavy quark with a light one, and the cross section can be factorized to be the convolution of the combination matrix element, the light quark distribution function, and the hard partonic sub-cross section of the heavy quark production. The partonic distribution and the combination matrix element are functions of a scaling variable, respectively, which is the momentum fraction of the corresponding quark with respect to the heavy meson. We studied the D *± production in jet via combination in pp collision at the LHC. The total result is comparable with the experimental data. The combination matrix elements can be further studied in various hadron production processes.

Multiplicity-dependent production of heavy mesons with strangeness in small systems at LHCb

The phenomenon of strangeness enhancement, originally proposed as a signature of quark-gluon plasma formation, has received considerable new interest following recent observations in small collision systems. LHCb is uniquely well suited to study such effects in the heavy quark sector, down to very low transverse momentum. Here we will present new LHCb results on the production rates of B0s relative to B0 mesons versus multiplicity in pp collisions. Potential implications for the hadronization mechanism of heavy quarks and our understanding of the factorization of fragmentation functions will be discussed.

Exclusive J/ψ and ϒ production in high-energy pp and p -Pb collisions

We present a formalism for determining the cross section for exclusive heavy vector meson production ($J/\ensuremath{\psi},\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Upsilon}}$) as a function of rapidity, in both high-energy proton-proton and proton-heavy ion collisions, at next-to-leading order in QCD. We compare and contrast the production in $pp$ and $p$-Pb collisions and show how data for these processes can give information on the low-$x$ gluon distribution of the proton and heavy ions at a range of different scales.

Complete calculation of exclusive heavy vector meson production at next-to-leading order in the dipole picture

Exclusive production of transversely polarized heavy vector mesons in deep inelastic scattering at high energy is calculated at next-to-leading order accuracy in the Color Glass Condensate framework. In addition to the first QCD correction proportional to the strong coupling constant αs, we systematically also include the first relativistic correction proportional to the heavy quark velocity squared v2. When combined with our previously published results for longitudinal vector meson production at next-to-leading order accuracy, these results make phenomenological calculations of heavy vector meson production possible at the order mathcal{O} (αsv0, {alpha}_{mathrm{s}}^0 v2). When applied to J/ψ and Υ production at HERA and at the LHC, a good agreement between the next-to-leading order calculations and experimental data is found. Additionally, we demonstrate that vector meson production can provide additional constraints compared to structure function analyses when the nonperturbative initial condition for the Balitsky-Kovchegov evolution equation is extracted.

Higher-order corrections to exclusive heavy vector meson production

We present results for higher-order corrections to exclusive production. This includes the first relativistic correction of order v^2v2 in quark velocity, and next-to-leading order corrections in \alpha_sαs for longitudinally polarized production. The relativistic corrections are found to be important for a good description of the HERA data, especially at small values of the photon virtuality. The next-to-leading order results for longitudinal production are evaluated numerically. We also demonstrate how the vector meson production provides complementary information to the structure functions for extracting the initial condition for the small-xx evolution of the dipole-proton scattering amplitude.

Impact of fully coherent energy loss on heavy meson production in pA collisions

Hadron production in proton-nucleus (pA) collisions was previously shown to be suppressed by medium-induced fully coherent energy loss (FCEL). We show that the quenching of D and B mesons in pPb collisions at the LHC due solely to FCEL is, at least, on par with other nuclear effects such as gluon shadowing or saturation. This is consistent with previous findings for both quarkonium and light hadron production in pA collisions, emphasising that FCEL effects need to be included for a reliable understanding of hadron production measurements in pA collisions.

Exclusive heavy vector meson production at next-to-leading order in the dipole picture

We calculate exclusive production of a longitudinally polarized heavy vector meson at next-to-leading order in the dipole picture. The large quark mass allows us to separately include both the first QCD correction proportional to the coupling constant αs, and the first relativistic correction suppressed by the quark velocity v2. Both of these corrections are found to be numerically important in J/ψ production. The results obtained are directly suitable for phenomenological calculations. We also demonstrate how vector meson production provides complementary information to structure function analyses when one extracts the initial condition for the energy evolution of the proton small-x structure.

Single diffractive production of open heavy flavor mesons

In this paper we discuss the single diffractive production of open heavy flavor mesons and non-prompt charmonia in $pp$ collisions. Using the color dipole approach, we found that the single diffractive production constitutes 0.5-2 per cent of the inclusive production of the same mesons. In Tevatron kinematics our theoretical results are in reasonable agreement with the available experimental data. In LHC kinematics we found that the cross-section is sufficiently large and could be accessed experimentally. We also analyzed the dependence on multiplicity of co-produced hadrons and found that it is significantly slower than that of inclusive production of the same heavy mesons.

BFKL Pomeron loop contribution in diffractive photoproduction and inclusive hadroproduction of J/\u03c8 and \u03d2

We analyze contributions to the heavy vector meson production with large transverse momentum in proton-proton and diffractive photon-proton scattering driven by an exchange of two Balitsky-Fadin-Kuraev-Lipatov Pomerons in the squared amplitudes. The Pomerons couple to a single parton and form a Pomeron loop closed by the vector meson impact factors. For the photon-proton case the diffractive cut of the Pomeron loop contributes, and for the inclusive hadroproduction one finds the loop with two cut Pomerons. We compute both of these Pomeron loop contributions and study in detail their properties. The results are then used to calculate the cross sections for diffractive J/ψ photoproduction with large transverse momentum at HERA and the correlated two Pomeron contribution for inclusive J/ψ and ϒ production cross sections at the LHC. Within a unified approach a good description of the photoproduction data is found, but correlated two Pomeron mechanism gives only a small contribution to hadroproduction of the vector mesons at the LHC.

From [formula omitted] production asymmetry at the LHC to prompt ντ at IceCube

The description of the heavy meson production at large energies and forward rapidities at the LHC is fundamental to derive realistic predictions of the prompt atmospheric neutrino flux at the IceCube Observatory. In particular, the prompt tau neutrino flux is determined by the decay of Ds mesons produced in cosmic ray–air interactions at high energies and large values of the Feynman-xF variable. Recent data of the LHCb Collaboration indicate a production asymmetry for Ds+ and Ds− mesons, which cannot be explained in terms of the standard modeling of the hadronization process. In this paper we demonstrate that this asymmetry can be described assuming an asymmetric strange sea (s(x)≠s¯(x)) in the proton wave function and taking into account the dominant charm and subdominant strange fragmentation into Ds mesons. Moreover, we show that the strange quark fragmentation contribution is dominant at large-xF (≥0.3). The prompt ντ flux is calculated and the enhancement associated with the strange quark fragmentation contribution, disregarded in previous calculations, is estimated. The considered scenario leads to quite sizable enhancement of the high-energy τ-neutrino flux.

Double-parton Scattering Effects in Heavy Meson Production

We present results of our theoretical investigation of double-parton scattering (DPS) effects in production of heavy flavour mesons (charm and bottom). We discuss production of charm-bottom and bottom-bottom meson-meson pairs in proton-proton collisions at the LHC. The calculation of DPS mechanism is performed within factorized ansatz where each parton scattering is calculated in the framework of the $k_T$-factorization. The hadronization is done with the help of independent parton fragmentation picture. For completeness we compare results for double- and single-parton scattering (SPS). As in the case of double charm production also here the DPS dominates over the SPS, especially for small transverse momenta. We present several distributions and integrated cross sections with realistic cuts for simultaneous production of $D^0 B^+$ and $B^+ B^+$, suggesting future experimental studies at the LHCb detector.

Simultaneous Production of $D$ and $B$ Mesons

We present results of our studies of double-parton scattering (DPS) effects in simultaneous production of heavy flavour mesons (charm and bottom). We discuss production of charm-bottom and bottom-bottom meson-meson pairs in proton-proton collisions at the LHC. The calculation of DPS mechanism is performed within factorized ansatz where each parton scattering is calculated within $k_T$-factorization approach. The hadronization is done with the help of fragmentation functions. For completeness we compare results for double- and single-parton scattering (SPS). The SPS components are also calculated in the $k_{T}$-factorization with the help of KaTie Monte Carlo generator. As in the case of double charm production also here the DPS dominates over the SPS, especially for small transverse momenta. We present several distributions and integrated cross sections with realistic cuts for simultaneous production of $D^0 B^+$ and $B^+ B^+$, suggesting future experimental studies at the LHC.

Study of heavy meson production in p–Pb collisions at [formula omitted] TeV in the general-mass variable-flavour-number scheme

We study inclusive charm and bottom production, for both D and B mesons, in p–Pb collisions at the LHC. Numerical results for pT-differential production cross sections are obtained at next-to-leading-order in the general-mass variable-flavour-number scheme. We compare our results with recent data from ALICE, LHCb and CMS at a centre-of-mass energy of 5 TeV and find good agreement. A comparison with p–p cross sections does not reveal the presence of nuclear initial-state interaction effects that could be expected to become visible as deviations of the ratio of p–Pb and p–p cross sections from one.

Photoproduction of heavy vector mesons in ultra-peripheral Pb–Pb collisions

Ultra-peripheral Pb-Pb collisions, in which the two nuclei pass close to each other, but at an impact parameter greater than the sum of their radii, provide information about the initial state of nuclei. In particular, heavy vector meson production, where the particle mass sets a hard scale, proceeds in such collisions by photon-gluon interactions, and gives access to nuclear PDFs. The ALICE collaboration has published measurements of J/ψ and ψ(2S) photoproduction in ultra-peripheral collisions in LHC Run 1 at forward (J/ψ) and mid-rapidity, and has obtained a substantially larger data set in 2015 from LHC Run 2, allowing much more detailed studies of the production mechanism to be performed. In particular, the increased energy and more detailed measurements in the forward region in Run 2 give access to significantly lower values of Bjorken-x than in previous studies. In this talk, the latest available results from Run 2 will be given.

Jet and heavy flavor production in heavy-ion collisions

We review recent progress in the theoretical description of hard probes in heavy-ion collisions within the framework of Soft Collinear Effective Theory (SCET). Firstly, we consider the inclusive production of heavy flavor mesons and jets with a small radius parameter in proton-proton collisions. Secondly, we describe how in-medium effects can be incorporated consistently with the proton-proton baseline calculations. The in-medium interactions are described by Glauber gluon interactions. We present results for the nuclear modification factor RAA which is most commonly used to study the quenching of hadron or jet production yields in heavy-ion collisions and we compare to recent data from the LHC.

Review of QCD, cosmological phase transitions, QGP, heavy quark meson production enhancement and suppression

This review of the quantum chromodynamics (QCD), the early universe cosmological phase transition from the quark–gluon plasma (QGP) to our present universe (QCDPT), relativistic heavy ion collisions (RHIC) which can produce the QGP, the possible detection of the QGP produced by the production of mixed hybrid heavy quark mesons. We also review the recent studies of the production of mixed heavy quark hybrids via RHIC and heavy quark meson suppression in p-Pb and Pb–Pb collisions.