Sensitivity of the parameters measured in pp collisions on the gluon PDF

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the sphericity distribution in proton-proton collisions, simulated with PYTHIA, is highly sensitive to the gluon parton distribution function, suggesting early LHC data can help constrain it.

Contribution

It demonstrates the potential of using sphericity distributions in minimum bias pp collisions to determine the gluon distribution function in the proton.

Findings

Sphericity distribution varies with different parton distribution functions.

Early LHC data can be used to constrain the gluon PDF.

Sensitivity depends on parameters like mean transverse momentum and multiplicity.

Abstract

The sphericity distribution in minimum bias events obtained with PYTHIA event generator, incorporating different parton distribution functions is presented. The results show that for minimum bias pp collisions the sphericity distribution for different parameters like the mean transverse momentum and multiplicity exhibit strong sensitivity on the parton distribution function used. The results indicate that early data at the LHC could be used in this type of analysis to fix the gluon distribution function in the proton.