Unified Resummation of Soft Gluon Radiation in Heavy Meson Pair Photoproduction

Abstract

We develop a unified resummation framework for heavy-meson pair photoproduction that treats soft-gluon radiation in a massive scheme for $|\boldsymbol q| \lesssim m_Q$ and is consistent with the massless limit $m_Q \ll |\boldsymbol q|$, where $\boldsymbol q$ denotes the transverse momentum of the pair and $m_Q$ the quark mass. This framework describes the full correlation regime $|\boldsymbol q| \ll |\boldsymbol P|$, with $\boldsymbol P$ the pair's relative transverse momentum. Next, within the Color Glass Condensate framework, we quantify the impact of soft gluon radiation on two important phenomenological observables, namely, the azimuthal $\Delta\phi$ correlation and the harmonic asymmetries $\langle \cos(2n\phi_{qP})\rangle$. Our results show that the resummation provides an excellent description of the H1 $\Delta\phi$ data. We then find that the angular-asymmetry harmonics are sizable and their ratios in $\gamma A$ to $\gamma p$ collisions are highly sensitive to gluon saturation. We further find a clear mass hierarchy in both observables, indicating that heavy-quark masses suppress soft radiation and thereby enhance genuine small-$x$ saturation signals. Our work demonstrates that heavy-quark pair photoproduction provides a quantitative probe of gluon saturation, directly measurable in forthcoming EIC and UPC measurements. Finally, the unified resummation is readily extendable to other processes involving massive particles and jets in both $eA$ and $pA$ collisions.