Di-photon "Ridge" in p+p and p+A collisions at RHIC and the LHC

TL;DR

This paper investigates the di-photon correlation 'ridge' phenomenon in proton-proton and proton-nucleus collisions at RHIC and LHC energies, using a hybrid theoretical approach to understand its origin and dependence on collision dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed theoretical analysis of di-photon correlations, revealing the mechanisms behind the ridge and its dependence on kinematics and saturation effects in high-energy collisions.

Findings

Di-photon ridge exists at LHC in quark-nucleus collisions but not in proton-nucleus collisions.

The ridge persists at RHIC in p+A collisions at low transverse momenta.

Novel features include a double-peak structure in di-photon correlations at intermediate transverse momenta.

Abstract

We obtain prompt di-photon cross-section in proton-nucleus collisions in Hamiltonian light-cone approach within a hybrid approximation, treating the projectile proton in the parton model and the target nucleus in the Color-Glass-Condensate approach. We study in details the di-photon correlations in quark-nucleus and proton-nucleus collisions at RHIC and the LHC. We show that the single fragmentation di-photon produces the away side correlations peak, and the double fragmentation component of prompt di-photon is responsible for the near-side peak, and the long-range in rapidity near-side azimuthal collimation, the so-called "ridge" structure. We study the transverse momentum, density and energy dependence of the di-photon ridge and show that it strongly depends on the kinematics and saturation dynamics. We show that while di-photon ridge exists at the LHC in quark-nucleus collisions, the effect disappears in proton-nucleus collisions at the LHC. At RHIC the ridge-type structure persists at low transverse momenta of di-photon even in proton-nucleus collisions. We argue that di-photon correlation measurments in p+A collisions can help to discriminate among models and understand the true origin of the observed di-hadron ridge in p+A collisions. We also show that in addition to the ridge structure, prompt di-photon correlation also exhibits some distinct novel features, including the emergence of away side double-peak structure at intermediate transverse momenta.