Charmonium suppression in fixed target proton-nucleus collisions

TL;DR

This paper systematically investigates cold nuclear matter effects on charmonium production in fixed target proton-nucleus collisions, analyzing data from multiple experiments to understand suppression mechanisms and predict future experimental outcomes.

Contribution

It provides a detailed evaluation of initial-state energy loss, nuclear shadowing, and final-state absorption effects on charmonium production, offering insights into their energy dependence and implications for upcoming experiments.

Findings

Quantifies the impact of CNM effects on charmonium yields.

Analyzes energy dependence of $J/\psi$ suppression patterns.

Predicts absorption levels for future proton-nucleus collision experiments.

Abstract

In this article, we perform a systematic investigation of cold nuclear matter (CNM) effects operative on charmonium ($J/\psi$, $\psi(2S)$) production in fixed target proton-nucleus (p+A) collisions. Influence on charmonium production cross section due to the interplay of three different plausible CNM effects namely the initial-state parton energy loss, nuclear shadowing, and final-state absorption of the resonant states, are evaluated in detail. The available data on charmonium production in fixed target p+A collision experiments from SPS, Fermilab and HERA-B are examined for this purpose. The energy dependence of the observed $J/\psi$ production patterns are utilized to anticipate level of "normal" absorption in the upcoming proton induced collisions by NA60+ experiment at CERN SPS and CBM experiment at FAIR SIS100 accelerator facilities.