Direct Photon Production in Association With A Heavy Quark At Hadron Colliders

TL;DR

This paper presents a next-to-leading order QCD calculation of photon production associated with heavy quarks at hadron colliders, incorporating experimental cuts and analyzing subprocess contributions.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed NLO calculation including both pointlike and fragmentation subprocesses for photon plus heavy quark production at colliders.

Findings

Cross section ratios for charm and bottom quarks are provided.

Systematic comparison of subprocess contributions at Tevatron and LHC.

Inclusion of experimental cuts in the theoretical calculation.

Abstract

Results of a next-to-leading order calculation of the inclusive cross section for a photon and a heavy quark (charm or bottom), $p \bar p / pp \to \gamma +Q +X$, are presented. Pointlike photon subprocesses through ${\cal O}(\alpha\alpha_{s}^2)$ and fragmentation subprocesses through ${\cal O}(\alpha_{s}^3)$ are included. The calculation is performed using a phase space slicing technique so that the effects of experimental cuts can be included. Results for the ratios of the charm and bottom cross sections are presented and the systematics of the various subprocesses for both the Tevatron and the LHC are compared and contrasted.