Photoproduction of $J/\psi$ with dissociation of protons

TL;DR

This paper calculates and compares the cross sections and distributions for electromagnetic and diffractive dissociation of protons in $J/$ photoproduction at LHC energies, providing predictions for experimental measurements.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed comparison of electromagnetic and diffractive dissociation contributions to $J/$ production at the LHC, including differential distributions and cross section predictions.

Findings

Electromagnetic and diffractive dissociation cross sections are of similar magnitude.

Differential distributions in missing mass, rapidity, and transverse momentum are presented.

Predictions are made for 7 TeV and 13 TeV collision energies.

Abstract

We present the cross sections for both electromagnetic and diffractive dissociation of protons for semiexclusive production of $J/\psi$ mesons in proton-proton collisions at the LHC. Differential distributions in missing mass ($M_X$), as well as distributions in rapidity and transverse momentum of the $J/\psi$ are calculated for $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV and 13 TeV proton proton collisions. We compare the distributions for purely electromagnetic and purely diffractive proton excitations/dissociation. We predict cross sections for electromagnetic and diffractive excitations of similar order of magnitude.