Speaker
Description
The production of the $f_{0}(980)$ meson at high energies is not well understood. We investigate two different potential mechanisms for inclusive scalar meson production in the $k_t$-factorization approach: color-singlet gluon-gluon fusion and color evaporation model. The $\gamma^* \gamma^* \to f_0(980)$ form factor(s) can be constraint from the $f_0(980)$ radiative decay width. The $g^* g^* \to f_0(980)$ form factors are obtained by a replacement of $\alpha_{em}$ electromagnetic coupling constant by $\alpha_{s}$ strong coupling constant and appropriate color factors. The form factors for the two couplings are parametrized with a function motivated by recent results for scalar quarkonia. The differential cross sections are calculated in the $k_t$-factorization approach with modern unintegrated gluon distributions. Unlike for quarkonia it seems rather difficult to describe a preliminary ALICE data for inclusive production of $f_0(980)$ exclusively by the color singlet gluon-gluon fusion mechanism. Two different scenarios for flavour structure of $f_0(980)$ are considered in this context. We consider also mechanism of fusion of quark-antiquark associated with soft gluon emission in a phenomenological color evaporation model (CEM) used sometimes for quarkonium production. Here we use $k_t$-factorization version of CEM to include higher-order contributions. In addition, for comparison we consider also NLO collinear approach with $q \bar{q} q$ and $q \bar{q} g$ color octet partonic final states. Both approaches lead to a similar result. However, very large probabilities are required to describe the preliminary ALICE data. The pomeron-pomeron fusion mechanism is also discussed and results are quantified.
We discuss also inclusive cross section and differential distributions for $f_2(1270)$ tensor meson production via color singlet gluon-gluon fusion in the $k_t$-factorization approach with unintegrated gluon distribution functions (UGDFs). The process is interesting in the context of searches for saturation effects. The energy-momentum tensor, equivalent to helicity-2 coupling, and helicity-0 coupling are used for the $g^* g^* \to f_2(1270)$ vertex. Some parameters are extracted from $\gamma \gamma \to f_2(1270) \to \pi \pi$ reactions. Different modern UGDFs from the literature are used. The results strongly depend on the parametrization of the $g^* g^* \to f_2(1270)$ form factor. Our results for transverse momentum distributions of $f_2$ are compared to preliminary ALICE data. We can obtain agreement with the data only at larger $f_2(1270)$ transverse momenta only for some parametrizations of the $g^* g^* \to f_2(1270)$ form factor. No obvious sign of the onset of saturation is possible. At low transverse momenta one needs to include also the $\pi\pi$ final-state rescattering. The agreement with the ALICE data can be obtained by adjusting probability of formation and survival of $f_2(1270)$ in a harsh quark-gluon and multipion environment. The pomeron-pomeron fusion mechanism is in addition discussed and results are quantified.
Finally we discuss also gluon-gluon mechanisms for production of mesons with hidden strangeness, such as $\eta'$ and $\phi$ meson, in proton-proton collisions at large energies. The $g^* g^* \to \eta'$ and $g^* g^* \to \phi g$ mechanisms are considered only and the corresponding cross sections are calculated in the $k_t$-factorization approach. The $F_{\gamma^* \gamma^* \to \eta'}$ and $F_{g^* g^* \to \eta'}$ form factors are calculated from quark-antiquark $\eta'$ light cone wave function including quark/antiquark transverse momenta. The result for two-photon transition form factor demonstrates that higher twists may survive even to large photon virtualities. The result is compared with the result of a recent leading-twist NLO analysis which uses phenomenological distribution amplitudes fitted to exclusive production of $\eta'$ in $e^+ e^- \to e^+ e^- \eta'$ reaction. We calculate transverse momentum distributions of both $\eta'$ and $\phi$ mesons in proton-proton collisions for RHIC and LHC energies. The results are compared to experimental data whenever available. The results of the Lund string model are shown for comparison for $\eta'$ production at LHC energies. It seems that the two-gluon fusion is not the dominant mechanism for both $\phi$ and $\eta'$ production, although the situation for $\eta'$, especially at larger energies, is less clear due to lack of experimental data.
[1] P. Lebiedowicz, R. Maciula and A. Szczurek, "Production of $f_0(980)$ meson at the LHC: Color evaporation versus color-singlet gluon-gluon fusion", Phys. Lett. B806 (2020) 135475
[2] P. Lebiedowicz and A. Szczurek, "Production of $f_2(1270)$ meson in $pp$ collisions at the LHC via gluon-gluon fusion in the $k_t$-factorization approach", Phys. Lett. B810 (2020) 135816
[3] A. Cisek and A. Szczurek, "Two-gluon production of $\phi$ and $\eta'$ mesons in proton-protoncollisions at high energies", arXiv:2103.08954 [hep-ph]
| First author | Antoni Szczurek |
|---|---|
| antoni.szczurek@ifj.edu.pl | |
| Collaboration / Activity | IFJ PAN Krakow |
