Measurement of the forward-backward asymmetry in $\Lambda_b^0$ and $\overline \Lambda_b^0$ baryon production in $p \overline p$ collisions at $\sqrt s =1.96$ TeV

TL;DR

This paper reports a measurement of the forward-backward asymmetry in $ ext{Lambda}_b^0$ and $ ext{Lambda}_b^0$ baryon production in proton-antiproton collisions at 1.96 TeV, providing insights into baryon production asymmetries.

Contribution

First measurement of the forward-backward asymmetry of $ ext{Lambda}_b^0$ baryons in $par{p}$ collisions at Tevatron energies.

Findings

Asymmetry measured as A=0.04 ± 0.07 (stat) ± 0.02 (syst).

Asymmetry consistent with zero within uncertainties.

Provides data for testing baryon production models.

Abstract

We measure the forward-backward asymmetry in the production of $\Lambda_b^0$ and $\overline \Lambda_b^0$ baryons as a function of rapidity in $p \overline p $ collisions at $\sqrt s =1.96$ TeV using $10.4$ fb$^{-1}$ of data collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. The asymmetry is determined by the preference of $\Lambda_b^0$ or $\overline \Lambda_b^0$ particles to be produced in the direction of the beam protons or antiprotons, respectively. The measured asymmetry integrated over rapidity $y$ in the range $0.1<|y|<2$ is $A=0.04 \pm 0.07 {\rm (stat)} \pm 0.02 {\rm (syst)}$.