Tensor Meson Production in Proton-Proton Collisions from the Color Glass Condensate

TL;DR

This paper calculates the production of tensor mesons in high-energy proton-proton collisions using the Color Glass Condensate framework, showing equivalence with $k_{ot}$-factorization and exploring phenomenological implications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to compute $f_{2}$ tensor meson production within the Color Glass Condensate formalism and compares it with $k_{ot}$-factorization, providing new insights into gluon distributions.

Findings

Equivalence of CGC and $k_{ot}$-factorization formalisms for this observable

Predictions for $f_{2}$ meson production sensitive to gluon distribution models

Potential to constrain unintegrated gluon distributions using $f_{2}$ production data

Abstract

We compute the inclusive cross-section of $f_{2}$ tensor mesons production in proton-proton collisions at high-energy. We use an effective theory inspired from the tensor meson dominance hypothesis that couples gluons to $f_{2}$ mesons. We compute the differential cross-section in the $k_{\perp}$-factorization and in the Color Glass Condensate formalism in the low density regime. We show that the two formalisms are equivalent for this specific observable. Finally, we study the phenomenology of $f_{2}$ mesons by comparing theoretical predictions of different parameterizations of the unintegrated gluon distribution function. We find that $f_{2}$-meson production is another observable that can be used to put constraints on these distributions.