J/psi suppression in p-A collisions from parton energy loss in cold QCD matter

TL;DR

This paper investigates how energy loss in cold nuclear matter causes J/psi suppression in proton-nucleus collisions, using a simple model that aligns with experimental data and offers predictions for future collider experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a minimalistic, first-principles based model for J/psi suppression due to parton energy loss in cold matter, supported by data across energies and xF ranges.

Findings

Energy loss is a dominant factor in quarkonium suppression.

The model reproduces experimental suppression data effectively.

Predictions for J/psi and Upsilon suppression at the LHC are provided.

Abstract

The effects of energy loss in cold nuclear matter on J/psi suppression in p-A collisions are studied. A simple model based on first principles and depending on a single free parameter is able to reproduce J/psi suppression data at large xF and at various center-of-mass energies. These results strongly support energy loss as a dominant effect in quarkonium suppression. They also give some hint on its hadroproduction mechanism suggesting color neutralization to happen on long time-scales. Predictions for J/psi and Upsilon suppression in p-Pb collisions at the LHC are made.