Measurement of $\phi$-meson production at forward rapidity in $p$$+$$p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$=510 GeV and energy dependence of $\sigma_\phi$ from $\sqrt{s}$=200 GeV to 7 TeV

TL;DR

This paper reports the measurement of $\

Contribution

It provides new measurements of $\\phi$-meson production at forward rapidity in $p$+$p$ collisions at 510 GeV and analyzes the energy dependence of the production cross section across a wide energy range.

Findings

Measured $\\phi$-meson cross section at 510 GeV with detailed uncertainties.

Compared energy dependence of $\\phi$ production with various models.

Found discrepancies between models and experimental data at different energies.

Abstract

The PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider has measured the differential cross section of $\phi$(1020)-meson production at forward rapidity in $p$$+$$p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$510 GeV via the dimuon decay channel. The partial cross section in the rapidity and $p_T$ ranges $1.2<|y|<2.2$ and $2<p_T<7$ GeV/$c$ is $\sigma_\phi=[2.28 \pm 0.09\,{\rm (stat)} \pm 0.14\,{\rm (syst)} \pm 0.27\, {\rm (norm)}] \times 10^{-2}$~mb. The energy dependence of $\sigma_\phi$ ($1.2<|y|<2.2, \; 2<p_T<5$ GeV/$c$) is studied using the PHENIX measurements at $\sqrt{s}=$200 and 510 GeV and the Large-Hadron-Collider measurements at $\sqrt{s}=$2.76 and 7 TeV. The experimental results are compared to various event generator predictions ({\sc pythia6, pythia8, phojet, ampt, epos3,} and {\sc epos-lhc}).