Inclusive photoproduction of D*+- mesons at next-to-leading order in the General-Mass Variable-Flavor-Number Scheme

TL;DR

This paper presents a next-to-leading order calculation of inclusive D*+- meson photoproduction at HERA using the general-mass variable-flavor-number scheme, incorporating mass effects and resummation of large logarithms.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed NLO calculation within the GM-VFNS framework for D*+- meson production, including mass effects and a comparison with experimental data.

Findings

Good agreement with HERA data.

Quantified theoretical uncertainties.

Validated the GM-VFNS approach for heavy meson production.

Abstract

We discuss the inclusive production of D*+- mesons in gamma-proton collisions at DESY HERA, based on a calculation at next-to-leading order in the general-mass variable-flavor-number scheme. In this approach, MSbar subtraction is applied in such a way that large logarithmic corrections are resummed in universal parton distribution and fragmentation functions and finite mass terms are taken into account. We present detailed numerical results for a comparison with data obtained at HERA and discuss various sources of theoretical uncertainties.