Measurement of Inclusive $D^{*\pm}$ Production in Two-Photon Collisions at LEP

TL;DR

This paper reports the measurement of inclusive D* meson production in two-photon collisions at LEP, providing differential cross sections and comparing them with theoretical QCD predictions to enhance understanding of charm production mechanisms.

Contribution

The study presents the first detailed measurement of D* meson production cross sections in two-photon collisions at LEP energies, including differential distributions and comparison with NLO QCD calculations.

Findings

Measured integrated cross section: 132 ± 22 (stat) ± 26 (syst) pb.

Provided differential cross sections as functions of pT and η.

Compared experimental results with next-to-leading order QCD predictions.

Abstract

Inclusive production of $\mathrm{D^{*\pm}}$ mesons in two-photon collisions was measured by the L3 experiment at LEP. The data were collected at a centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s} = 189$ GeV with an integrated luminosity of $176.4 \mathrm{pb^{-1}}$. Differential cross sections of the process $\mathrm{e^+e^- \to D^{*\pm} X}$ are determined as functions of the transverse momentum and pseudorapidity of the $\mathrm{D^{*\pm}}$ mesons in the kinematic region 1 GeV $< p_{T}^{\mathrm{D^*}} < 5 $ GeV and $\mathrm{|\eta^{D^*}|} < 1.4$. The cross section integrated over this phase space domain is measured to be $132 \pm 22(stat.) \pm 26(syst.)$ pb. The differential cross sections are compared with next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations.