Diffractive quarkonium photoproduction in $pp$ and $pA$ collisions at the LHC: Predictions of the Resolved Pomeron model for the Run 2 energies

TL;DR

This paper predicts the rates and distributions of diffractive quarkonium photoproduction in proton-proton and proton-nucleus collisions at the LHC using the Resolved Pomeron model, comparing inclusive and exclusive processes.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed predictions for inclusive diffractive quarkonium production at LHC energies within the Resolved Pomeron framework, including distributions and cross sections.

Findings

Inclusive diffractive production is over 10 times smaller than exclusive production.

Rapidity and transverse momentum distributions are estimated for J/Ψ, Ψ(2S), and Υ.

Predictions are made for total cross sections at Run 2 energies.

Abstract

The inclusive diffractive quarkonium photoproduction in $pp$ and $pA$ collisions is investigated considering the Resolved Pomeron Model to describe the diffractive interaction. We estimate the rapidity and transverse momentum distributions for the $J/\Psi$, $\Psi(2S)$ and $\Upsilon$ photoproduction in hadronic collisions at the LHC and present our estimate for the total cross sections at the Run 2 energies. A comparison with the predictions associated to the exclusive production also is presented. Our results indicate that the inclusive diffractive production is a factor $\gtrsim 10$ smaller than the exclusive one in the kinematical range probed by the LHC.