Coherent photoproduction of light vector mesons off nuclear targets in the dipole picture

TL;DR

This paper models coherent light vector meson photoproduction in Pb-Pb collisions using the dipole approach, incorporating gluon shadowing, and provides predictions for various meson states.

Contribution

It introduces a gluon shadowing correction within the dipole model, calibrated to experimental data, and predicts production observables for multiple vector mesons.

Findings

Good agreement with existing data using R_G=0.85

Predictions made for excited and different vector meson states

Effective suppression factor improves modeling accuracy

Abstract

We study the coherent photoproduction of light vector mesons in Pb-Pb collisions in the framework of color dipole approach. We employ the Glauber--Gribov formalism supplemented by an effective suppression factor $R_G$ accounting for the gluon shadowing correction. We adjust the latter to reproduce the deep inelastic structure function $F_2$ (E665) and $\rho$ meson photoproduction (ALICE) data. We achieve a good description of the available data points with $R_G = 0.85$ at scale $M_\rho^2/4 = 0.15$ GeV$^2$. In addition, employing this suppression factor, we present predictions for coherent $\rho(2S)$, $\omega(1S,2S)$ and $\phi(1S,2S)$ photoproduction observables using the holographic vector meson wave functions.