Comparative Study of the Hadronic Production of $B_c$ Mesons

TL;DR

This paper compares detailed QCD calculations with the fragmentation approximation for $B_c$ meson production at the Tevatron, highlighting the importance of non-fragmentation diagrams at certain transverse momentum ranges.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive comparison between full order $ ext{α}_s^4$ calculations and the fragmentation approximation for $B_c$ production, emphasizing the significance of non-fragmentation diagrams.

Findings

Non-fragmentation diagrams are significant unless $P_T \gg M_{B_c}$.

Full order calculations differ from fragmentation approximation at moderate $P_T$.

Highlights the importance of non-fragmentation contributions in $B_c$ production.

Abstract

The full order $\alpha_s^4$ perturbative QCD calculation of the production of $B_c$ mesons at the Tevatron is compared with the fragmentation approximation. The non-fragmentation diagrams, in which two or more quarks and/or gluons can simultaneously be nearly on-shell, are important unless $P_T\gg M_{B_c}$.