Charm fragmentation and dijet angular distributions

TL;DR

This paper investigates charm fragmentation and dijet angular distributions in $D^*$ photoproduction at HERA, providing insights into charm production mechanisms and the universality of charm fragmentation.

Contribution

It presents new measurements of charm fragmentation properties and dijet angular distributions, highlighting the charm content of the photon and the underlying production processes.

Findings

Resolved photon events show a steep rise in cross section in the photon direction.

Evidence supports that resolved photon cross section is mainly due to charm content.

Angular distributions are consistent with quark exchange diagrams.

Abstract

Charm fragmentation and dijet angular distributions have been measured in $D^*$ photoproduction at HERA. Charm fragmentation and its property of universality is evaluated in terms of measurement of $P_v$, the ratio of vector/(vector + pseudoscalar) mesons. Angular distributions of dijets, with at least one of the jets associated with a $D^{*\pm}$ meson, have been measured for samples enriched in direct or resolved photon events. The differential cross section shows a steep rise for resolved events in the photon direction, providing strong evidence that the bulk of the resolved photon cross section is due to the charm content of the photon. The shallower rise for direct events as well as for resolved photon events in the proton direction are consistent with the quark exchange diagrams.