Production of Charm, Charmonium, and Beauty in 800$\,$GeV Proton-Nucleon Collisions

TL;DR

This paper summarizes Fermilab E789 experiment results on heavy-quark and quarkonium production in proton-nucleon collisions, highlighting discrepancies between observed data and theoretical models, especially for $ ext{ extpsi}^ extprime$ production.

Contribution

It provides experimental data on charm, charmonium, and beauty production and compares these with existing models, revealing significant gaps in understanding.

Findings

Heavy-quark and quarkonium production are not fully understood.

The $ ext{ extpsi}^ extprime$ production rate exceeds predictions by a factor of about 25.

Data challenges current theoretical models.

Abstract

Some recent results from the Fermilab fixed-target experiment E789 on production of charm, charmonium, and beauty are summarized and compared to model predictions. The data indicate that heavy-quark and quarkonium production are not yet entirely understood. The largest discrepancy concerns the rate of $\psi^\prime$ production, which is a factor $\approx$25 above expectations.