Exclusive quarkonium photoproduction: predictions with the Balitsky-Kovchegov equation including the full impact-parameter dependence

TL;DR

This paper provides theoretical predictions for exclusive quarkonium photoproduction cross-sections at the LHC using the impact-parameter dependent Balitsky-Kovchegov equation, aiding future experimental analyses.

Contribution

It introduces a novel calculation of cross-sections incorporating the full impact-parameter dependence of the BK equation for the first time.

Findings

Predicted cross-sections as functions of energy and momentum transfer.

Analyzed the impact of non-linear BK terms on observables.

Provided ratios of cross-sections for different states and kinematic conditions.

Abstract

The ongoing Run 3 at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is substantially increasing the luminosity delivered to the experiments during Run 1 and Run 2. The advent of the high-luminosity upgrade of the LHC (Run 4 to 6), as well as the improvements to all detectors, will allow for the collection of an unprecedented amount of data in the next decade. This opens the possibility of performing measurements which have been limited by the smallness of the available data samples. This is the case of multi-differential studies of $J/\psi$, as well as of $\Upsilon$ excited states, in exclusive diffractive photon-induced interactions. Here, we present predictions for the cross-sections of these processes utilising the dipole amplitude from the Balitsky-Kovchegov (BK) equation solved in the target rapidity and including the full impact-parameter dependence. Cross-sections are computed as a function of the photon--proton centre-of-mass energy as well as a function of Mandelstam-$t$. Ratios of cross-sections for different states and for the same state at different Mandelstam-$t$ values are also presented. The contribution to these observables of the non-linear terms in the BK equation is discussed.