Probing gluon nuclear PDF with direct photon production in association with a heavy quark

TL;DR

This paper explores how direct photon production with a heavy quark in proton-nucleus collisions at the LHC can help constrain the poorly known nuclear gluon PDF, offering a new experimental approach.

Contribution

It proposes using a specific process in high-energy collisions as a novel method to better determine the nuclear gluon distribution functions.

Findings

Sensitive to nuclear gluon and heavy quark PDFs

Potential to improve understanding of gluon distribution in nuclei

Provides a promising experimental probe at the LHC

Abstract

We investigate a possible use of direct photon production in association with a heavy quark in $pA$ collisions at the large hadron collider to constrain the nuclear gluon parton distribution function. This process is sensitive to both, the nuclear heavy quark and gluon parton distribution functions and is a very promising candidate to help determine the gluon nuclear PDF which is still largely untested.