Exclusive axionlike particle production by gluon -- induced interactions in hadronic collisions

TL;DR

This paper explores the production of axionlike particles via gluon-induced interactions in hadronic collisions at the LHC, highlighting their potential dominance in certain scenarios and providing cross section estimates.

Contribution

It introduces a novel analysis of gluon-induced exclusive ALP production in proton-proton and lead-lead collisions, comparing it with photon-induced processes.

Findings

Gluon-induced interactions can dominate ALP production in small-mass scenarios.

Estimated cross sections for ALP production at LHC energies.

Gluon interactions are nonnegligible in ALP production mechanisms.

Abstract

The exclusive production of axionlike particles (ALPs) by gluon -- induced interactions is investigated in this exploratory study considering $pp$ and $PbPb$ collisions for the energies of the next run of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Assuming the Duhram model, we estimate the associated cross sections for the rapidity ranges probed by central and forward detectors. A comparison with the predictions for the exclusive ALP production by photon -- induced interactions is presented. Our results indicate that the contribution of gluon -- induced interactions is nonnegligible and can become dominant in $pp$ collisions for small values of the ALP mass.