Measurement of Inclusive and Dijet D* Meson Cross Sections in Photoproduction at HERA

TL;DR

This paper measures the production rates of D* mesons and D*-tagged dijets in photoproduction at HERA, providing data to test QCD predictions and improve understanding of heavy quark production in ep collisions.

Contribution

It presents the first detailed measurements of inclusive and dijet D* meson cross sections in photoproduction at HERA, comparing results with theoretical models.

Findings

Measured differential cross sections for D* mesons and D*-tagged dijets.

Observed agreement and discrepancies with Monte Carlo and NLO QCD predictions.

Provided insights into heavy quark production mechanisms in ep collisions.

Abstract

The inclusive photoproduction of D\ast mesons and of D\ast-tagged dijets is investigated with the H1 detector at the ep collider HERA. The kinematic region covers small photon virtualities Q2 < 2 GeV2 and photon-proton centre-of-mass energies of 100 < Wgp < 285 GeV. Inclusive D\ast meson differential cross sections are measured for central rapidities |eta(D\ast)| < 1.5 and transverse momenta pT (D\ast) > 1.8 GeV. The heavy quark production process is further investigated in events with at least two jets with transverse momentum pT (jet) > 3.5 GeV each, one containing the D\ast meson. Differential cross sections for D\ast-tagged dijet production and for correlations between the jets are measured in the range |eta(D\ast)| < 1.5 and pT (D\ast) > 2.1 GeV. The results are compared with predictions from Monte Carlo simulations and next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations.