Beauty production in two-photon interactions at LEP2: kt-factorization versus data

TL;DR

This paper compares theoretical predictions of beauty quark production in photon-photon collisions at LEP2 using kt-factorization with experimental data, highlighting the role of unintegrated gluon distributions.

Contribution

It introduces a kt-factorization framework incorporating both direct and resolved photon contributions and compares different unintegrated gluon distributions with experimental data.

Findings

Predicted beauty cross section aligns with ALEPH data.

Unintegrated gluon distributions from CCFM and KMR are effective.

Azimuthal correlations can probe gluon densities.

Abstract

Inclusive beauty quark production in photon-photon collisions at CERN LEP2 is considered in the framework of the kt-factorization approach. Both direct and resolved photon contributions are taken into account. The unintegrated gluon distributions in a photon are either obtained from the full CCFM evolution equation or from the Kimber-Martin-Ryskin prescription. The predicted beauty cross section reasonably agrees with the recent experimental data taken by the ALEPH collaboration. We argue that theoretical and experimental studies of the azimuthal correlations in heavy quark production at high energies can serve as a crucial probe of the unintegrated gluon densities.