Measurement of Beauty Photoproduction near Threshold using Di-electron Events with the H1 Detector at HERA

TL;DR

This paper reports a measurement of beauty quark pair production in photoproduction at HERA, focusing on the near-threshold region and comparing results with QCD predictions.

Contribution

First measurement of beauty photoproduction near threshold using di-electron decay channel at HERA.

Findings

Measured total cross section within specified kinematic range.

Provided differential cross section as a function of <P_T(b)>.

Results are consistent with next-to-leading-order QCD predictions.

Abstract

The cross section for ep -> e b\bar{b} X in photoproduction is measured with the H1 detector at the ep-collider HERA. The decay channel b\bar{b} -> ee X' is selected by identifying the semi-electronic decays of the b-quarks. The total production cross section is measured in the kinematic range given by the photon virtuality Q^2 <= 1 GeV^2, the inelasticity 0.05 <= y <= 0.65 and the pseudorapidity of the b-quarks |eta(b)|,|eta(\bar{b})| <= 2. The differential production cross section is measured as a function of the average transverse momentum of the beauty quarks <P_T(b)> down to the threshold. The results are compared to next-to-leading-order QCD predictions.