Exclusive production of quarkonia pairs in collinear factorization framework

TL;DR

This paper investigates the exclusive production of heavy quarkonia pairs in the collinear factorization framework, providing theoretical calculations and numerical estimates relevant for future Electron Ion Collider experiments.

Contribution

It presents the first leading-order calculation of the $J/ ho$-eta_c quarkonia pair production amplitude in terms of gluon GPDs, with numerical estimates for experimental feasibility.

Findings

Cross-section is sufficiently large for experimental detection at EIC.

Study complements existing gluon GPD measurements from other channels.

Provides a theoretical framework for quarkonia pair production analysis.

Abstract

In this paper we analyze the exclusive photoproduction of heavy quarkonia pairs in the collinear factorization framework. We evaluate the amplitude of the process for $J/\psi\,-\eta_{c}$ quarkonia pair in the leading order of the strong coupling $\alpha_{s},$ and express it in terms of generalized parton distributions (GPDs) of gluons in the proton. We made numerical estimates in the kinematics of the Electron Ion Collider, and found that in the photoproduction regime, when the virtuality of the photon is much smaller than the quarkonia mass, the cross-section of the process is sufficiently large for experimental studies. We demonstrate that the study of this channel can complement existing studies of gluon GPDs from other channels.