# Cross section and transverse single-spin asymmetry of muons from open heavy-flavor decays in polarized $p$+$p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV

## TL;DR

This paper reports measurements of muon production and spin asymmetries from heavy-flavor decays in polarized proton collisions at 200 GeV, providing insights into gluon correlations and testing QCD predictions.

## Contribution

First measurement of muon cross sections and single-spin asymmetries from heavy-flavor decays at RHIC energies, probing trigluon correlations in polarized proton collisions.

## Key findings

- Cross section agrees with pQCD calculations.
- Asymmetries are consistent with zero.
- Model based on three-gluon correlations matches data.

## Abstract

The cross section and transverse single-spin asymmetries of $\mu^{-}$ and $\mu^{+}$ from open heavy-flavor decays in polarized $p$+$p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV were measured by the PHENIX experiment during 2012 at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. Because heavy-flavor production is dominated by gluon-gluon interactions at $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV, these measurements offer a unique opportunity to obtain information on the trigluon correlation functions. The measurements are performed at forward and backward rapidity ($1.4<|y|<2.0$) over the transverse momentum range of $1.25<p_T<7$ GeV/$c$ for the cross section and $1.25<p_T<5$ GeV/$c$ for the asymmetry measurements. The obtained cross section is compared to a fixed-order-plus-next-to-leading-log perturbative-quantum-chromodynamics calculation. The asymmetry results are consistent with zero within uncertainties, and a model calculation based on twist-3 three-gluon correlations agrees with the data.