Exclusive $D \bar D$ meson pair production in peripheral ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions

TL;DR

This paper calculates the cross sections for exclusive $D ar D$ meson pair production in peripheral ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions, providing detailed distributions and predictions for RHIC and LHC energies.

Contribution

It presents a novel calculation of $D ar D$ production cross sections using the heavy-quark approximation and recent decay data, incorporating realistic nuclear charge form factors.

Findings

Cross sections of a few nb at RHIC energies.

Cross sections of a few hundred nb at LHC energies.

Quantified effects of absorption and different approximation methods.

Abstract

The cross sections for exclusive $D^+D^-$ and $D^0 \bar {D^0}$ meson pair production in peripheral nucleus - nucleus collisions are calculated and several differential distributions are presented. The calculation of the elementary $\gamma \gamma \to D \bar D$ cross section is done within the heavy-quark approximation and in the Brodsky- Lapage formalism with distribution amplitudes describing recent CLEO data on leptonic $D^+$ decay. Realistic (Fourier transform of charge density) charge form factors of nuclei are used to generate photon flux factors. Absorption effects are discussed and quantified. The cross sections of a few nb are predicted for RHIC and of a few hundreds of nb for LHC with details depending on the approximation made in calculating elementary $\gamma \gamma \to D \bar D$ cross sections.