Hadronic production of the doubly charmed baryon via the proton-nucleus and the nucleus-nucleus collisions at the RHIC and LHC

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the production of the doubly charmed baryon $\\Xi_{cc}$ in proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions at RHIC and LHC, considering various production mechanisms and estimating event yields.

Contribution

It provides a detailed calculation of $\\Xi_{cc}$ production via multiple mechanisms in $p$-N and N-N collisions, extending previous work focused on proton-proton collisions.

Findings

Sizable $\\Xi_{cc}$ production expected at RHIC and LHC in $p$-N and N-N modes.

Estimated $8.1\times10^7$ and $6.7\times10^7$ events in $p$-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions at LHC.

Production mechanisms include extrinsic charm and gluon-gluon fusion with diquark states.

Abstract

We present a detailed discussion on the doubly charmed baryon $\Xi_{cc}$ production at the RHIC and LHC via the proton-nucleus ($p$-N) and nucleus-nucleus (N-N) collision modes. The extrinsic charm mechanism via the subprocesses $g+c\to (cc)[n]+\bar{c}$ and $c+c\to (cc)[n]+g$ together with the gluon-gluon fusion mechanism via the subprocess $g+g\to(cc)[n]+\bar{c}+\bar{c}$ have been taken into consideration, where the intermediate diquark is in $[n]=[^1S_0]_{\bf 6}$-state or $[^3S_1]_{\bar{\bf 3}}$-state, respectively. Total and differential cross sections have been discussed under various collision energies. To compare with the $\Xi_{cc}$ production via proton-proton collision mode at the LHC, we observe that sizable $\Xi_{cc}$ events can also be generated via $p$-N and N-N collision modes at the RHIC and LHC. For examples, about $8.1\times10^7$ and $6.7\times10^7$ $\Xi_{cc}$ events can be accumulated in $p$-Pb and Pb-Pb collision modes at the LHC within one operation year.