arXiv subjects

Antoni Szczurek

Publications and source records attributed to Antoni Szczurek.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

Probing the structure of $χ_{c1}(3872)$ with photon transition form factors

We propose to study the structure of the enigmatic $χ_{c1}(3872)$ axial vector meson through its $γ^*_L γ\to χ_{c1}(3872)$ transition form factor. We derive a light-front wave function representation of the form factor for the lowest $c \bar c$ Fock-state. We found that the reduced width of the state is well within the current experimental bound recently published by the Belle collaboration. This strongly suggests a crucial role of the $c \bar c$ Fock-state in the photon-induced production. Our results for the $Q^2$ dependence can be tested by future single tagged $e^+ e^-$ experiments, giving further insights into the short-distance structure of this meson.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Far-forward production of charm mesons and neutrinos at Forward Physics Facilities at the LHC and the intrinsic charm in the proton

We discuss production of far-forward $D$ mesons/antimesons and neutrinos/antineutrinos from their semileptonic decays in pp-collisions at the LHC. We include the gluon-gluon fusion $gg \to c\bar{c}$, the intrinsic charm (IC) $gc \to gc$ as well as the recombination $gq \to Dc$ partonic mechanisms. The calculations are performed within the $k_T$-factorization approach and the hybrid model using different unintegrated parton distribution functions (uPDFs) for gluons from the literature, as well as within the collinear approach. We compare our results to the LHCb data for forward $D^{0}$-meson production at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV for different rapidity bins in the interval $2 < y < 4.5$. The IC and recombination models are negligible at the LHCb kinematics. Both the mechanisms start to be crucial at larger rapidities and dominate over the standard charm production mechanisms. At high energies there are so far no experiments probing this region. We present also energy distributions for forward electron, muon and tau neutrinos to be measured at the LHC by the currently operating FASER$ν$ experiment, as well as by future experiments like FASER$\nu2$ or FLArE, proposed very recently by the Forward Physics Facility project. Again components of different mechanisms are shown separately. For all kinds of neutrinos (electron, muon, tau) the subleading contributions, i.e. the IC and/or the recombination, dominate over light meson (pion, kaon) and the standard charm production contribution driven by fusion of gluons for neutrino energies $E_ν \gtrsim 300$ GeV. For electron and muon neutrinos both the mechanisms lead to a similar production rates and their separation seems rather impossible. On the other hand, for $ν_τ + {\bar ν}_τ$ neutrino flux the recombination is further reduced making the measurement of the IC contribution very attractive.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Deeply virtual Compton scattering in the tensor-pomeron approach

The two-tensor-pomeron model proposed previously to describe low $x$ DIS data is applied to real and virtual Compton scattering on a proton. The model includes two tensor pomerons, a soft and a hard one, and tensor reggeons. We include contributions of both transverse and longitudinal virtual photons. We show that this model gives a very good description of experimental data at small Bjorken $x$ on deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) from HERA. The reggeon exchange term is particularly relevant for describing the real-photon-proton scattering measured at lower $γp$ energies at FNAL. We present two fits which differ somewhat in the strength of the hard pomeron contribution. In both fits we find that the interference between soft- and hard-pomeron exchange plays an important role. We find that in DVCS the soft-pomeron contribution is considerable up to $Q^{2} \sim 20$ GeV$^{2}$. Our model allows to study the transition from the small-$Q^{2}$ regime, including the photoproduction ($Q^{2} = 0$) limit, to the large-$Q^{2}$ regime, the DIS limit. We also discuss the ratio of cross sections for longitudinally and transversely polarized virtual photons in $γ^{*} p \to γp$ as a function of $|t|$ and $Q^2$. The ratio $\tilde{R}(Q^{2},W^{2},t) = (dσ_{\rm L} / dt) / (dσ_{\rm T} / dt)$ strongly increases with $t$. Our findings may be checked in future lepton-nucleon scattering experiments in the low-$x$ regime, for instance, at a future Electron-Ion Collider at the BNL (EIC), and, if LHeC is realized, at the LHC.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Exclusive production of $ρ$ meson in gamma-proton collisions: $d σ/dt$ and the role of helicity flip processes

We calculate the differential cross section $dσ/dt$ for the diffractive photoproduction process $γp \to ρp$ and compare to recent data extracted by the CMS collaboration from ultraperipheral proton-lead collisions. Our model is based on two-gluon exchange in the nonperturbative domain. We take into account both helicity conserving and often neglected helicity-flip amplitudes in the $γ\to V$ transition. The letter can contribute at finite $t$. The shape of the differential cross section as well as the role of helicity flip processes is strongly related to the dependence of the unintegrated gluon distribution on transverse momenta in the nonperturbative region.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Production of $e^{+} e^{-}$ in proton-lead collision: photon-photon fusion

We analyze the photon-initiated processes for production of $ e ^ + e ^- $ pairs in proton-nucleus collisions at LHC energy, taking into account both elastic processes and proton dissociations in the low-mass region (LMR) and intermediate-mass region (IMR) as defined by the ALICE collaboration. The calculations are performed within the $k_{\rm T}$-factorisation approach, including transverse momenta of intermediate photons. We discuss several differential distributions in invariant mass of both the leptons $M_{ll}$, pair rapidity $Y_{ll}$ and transverse momenta of the lepton pair $p_{t,ll}$. In addition, we present the two-dimensional distributions in $\log_{10} x_{Bj}$ and $\log_{10} Q^{2}$ and ($\log_{10} W,\log_{10} Q^{2}$) the arguments of the deep-inelastic structure functions. All presented results were obtained with modern parametrizations of proton structure functions. Limiting to small invariant masses of dielectrons one tests structure functions in the nonperturbative region of small $Q^2$ and/or small $W$. We quantify difference for different parametrizations from the literature.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Soft-photon radiation in high-energy proton-proton collisions within the tensor-Pomeron approach: Bremsstrahlung

We discuss diffractive processes in proton-proton collisions at small momentum transfers without and with photon radiation. We consider the soft exclusive reactions $pp \to pp$, $p\bar{p} \to p\bar{p}$, and $pp \to pp γ$ within the tensor-pomeron and vector-odderon approach. We compare our results with the data for $pp$ and $p\bar{p}$ total cross sections, for the ratio of real to imaginary part of the forward scattering amplitude, and for the elastic $pp$ cross sections, especially those from TOTEM. To describe the low-energy data more accurately the secondary reggeons must be included. We write down the amplitudes for the photon bremsstrahlung in high-energy proton-proton collisions using the tensor-pomeron model. These results are relevant for the c.m. energies presently available at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and at the LHC. We present predictions for the proposed measurements of soft photons with the planned future upgrade of the ALICE experiment at the LHC. We investigate the limits of applicability of the soft-photon approximation (SPA) based on Low's theorem. The corresponding SPA results are compared to those obtained from our complete model. The regions of phase space are given quantitatively where SPA and our complete tensor-pomeron results are close to each other. As an example, let $k_{\perp}$, $\rm y$, and $ω$, be the absolute value of the transverse momentum, the rapidity, and the energy of the photon, respectively, in the overall c.m. system. For the region $1 \; {\rm MeV} < k_{\perp} < 100 \; {\rm MeV}$ and $3.5 < |\rm y| < 5.0$, we find that the SPA Ansatz with only the pole terms $\propto ω^{-1}$ agrees at the percent level with our complete model result up to $ω\cong 2$ GeV.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Exclusive emissions of polarized $ρ$ mesons at the EIC and the proton content at low $x$

We present a new study on helicity amplitudes and cross sections for the exclusive production of $ρ$ mesons at the EIC in high-energy factorization. In this framework the analytic expression of amplitudes takes the form of a convolution between an off-shell impact factor, depicting the ($γ^* \to ρ$) transition, and a nonperturbative density, known as Unintegrated Gluon Distribution (UGD) that encodes information about the proton structure at low $x$ and evolves according to the BFKL equation. We come out with an evidence that observables sensitive to the polarizations of the incoming virtual photon and of the emitted meson allow us to discriminate among different UGD models and to gather quantitative information on the proton content at high energies.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Light-front approach to axial-vector quarkonium $γ^* γ^*$ form factors

In this work, we perform a detailed study of transition form factors for axial-vector meson production via the two-photon fusion process $γ^* γ^* \to 1^{++}$, with space-like virtual photons in the initial state and a $P$-wave axial-vector quarkonium in the final state. In this analysis, we employ the formalism of light-front quarkonium wave functions obtained from a solution of the Schrödinger equation for a selection of interquark potentials for $Q \bar Q$ interaction. We found the helicity structure and covariant decomposition of the matrix elements that can be generically applied for any $q \bar q$ axial-vector meson $γ^* γ^* \to 1^{++}$ transition, while our numerical results are given for the phenomenologically relevant charmonium $χ_{c1}$ state. We present the helicity form factors as functions of both photon virtualities. We also obtain, that $Q F_{\rm LT}(Q^2,0)/F_{\rm TT}(Q^2,0) = {\rm const.}$

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Recombination mechanism for $D^{0}$-meson production and $D^{0}\!-\!\bar{D^{0}}$ production asymmetry in the LHCb $p\!+\!\!^{20}\!N\!e$ fixed-target experiment

We discuss production of neutral $D$ mesons in proton-proton collisions at the LHC (fixed target mode) in the framework of the BJM recombination model. We present rapidity and transverse momentum distributions of $D$ mesons and compare the recombination contribution to the dominant gluon-gluon fusion mechanism. Both the direct production, as dictated by the matrix element, and fragmentation of the associated $c$ or $\bar c$ are included. The latter mechanism generates $D$ mesons with smaller rapidities than those produced directly. We calculate the $D^0 + {\bar D^{0}}$ meson distributions relevant for fixed target $p\!+\!\!^{4}\!H\!e$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 86.6 GeV as well as for $p\!+\!\!^{20}\!N\!e$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 69 GeV. The recombination component is consistent with the LHCb data and in addition results in production asymmetry. The asymmetries in $D^{0}\!-\!\bar{D^{0}}$ production as a function of rapidity and transverse momentum are shown and the cancellation of terms for direct production and associated $c/{\bar c}$ fragmentation is discussed.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

The Forward Physics Facility: Sites, Experiments, and Physics Potential

The Forward Physics Facility (FPF) is a proposal to create a cavern with the space and infrastructure to support a suite of far-forward experiments at the Large Hadron Collider during the High Luminosity era. Located along the beam collision axis and shielded from the interaction point by at least 100 m of concrete and rock, the FPF will house experiments that will detect particles outside the acceptance of the existing large LHC experiments and will observe rare and exotic processes in an extremely low-background environment. In this work, we summarize the current status of plans for the FPF, including recent progress in civil engineering in identifying promising sites for the FPF and the experiments currently envisioned to realize the FPF's physics potential. We then review the many Standard Model and new physics topics that will be advanced by the FPF, including searches for long-lived particles, probes of dark matter and dark sectors, high-statistics studies of TeV neutrinos of all three flavors, aspects of perturbative and non-perturbative QCD, and high-energy astroparticle physics.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Structure and production mechanism of the enigmatic $X(3872)$ in high-energy hadronic reactions

We calculate the total cross section and transverse momentum distributions for the production of enigmatic $χ_{c,1}(3872)$ (or X(3872)) assuming different scenarios: $c \bar c$ state and $D^{0*} {\bar D}^0 + D^0 {\bar D}^{0*}$ molecule. The derivative of the $c \bar c$ wave function needed in the first scenario is taken from a potential model calculations. Compared to earlier calculation of molecular state we include not only single parton scattering (SPS) but also double parton scattering (DPS) contributions. The latter one seems to give smaller contribution than the SPS one. The upper limit for the DPS production of $χ_{c,1}(3872)$ is much below the CMS data. We compare results of our calculations with existing experimental data of CMS, ATLAS and LHCb collaborations. Reasonable cross sections can be obtained in either $c \bar c$ or molecular $D {\bar D}^*$ scenarios for $X(3872)$. Also a hybrid scenario is not excluded.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Electromagnetic interaction of low transverse momentum electrons and positrons with heavy nuclei in ultra-peripheral ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions

The photon-photon interaction in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collision is a source of the $(e^+,e^-)$ pairs. The photon-photon fusion leads the lepton creation in the broad configuration space around "collision" point. Those created close to heavy nuclei may undergo strong interaction with them. The impact parameter space distribution of electrons and positrons are calculated within the b-space EPA model of such collisions. The evolution due to the electromagnetic interaction of $(e^+,e^-)$ with nuclei is studied, and the distortion of rapidity and transverse momentum distributions are shown. We show first exploratory results for the reaction Pb+Pb at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=$ 17.3 GeV (SPS) and 200 GeV (RHIC) energies. We provide results for selected creation points and when integrating over their position as dictated by the $b$-space EPA model. We observe strong effects at low transverse momenta, so far not measured regions of the phase space. In particular, we predict a possible sizeable accumulation of electrons with rapidities close to the beam rapidity. The EM effects lead to asymmetry in the production of electrons and positrons.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2022

Production of forward heavy-flavour dijets at the LHCb within $k_{T}$-factorization approach

We calculate differential cross sections for $c \bar c$- and $b \bar b$-dijet production in $pp$-scattering at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV in the $k_T$-factorization and hybrid approaches with different unintegrated parton distribution functions (uPDFs). We present distributions in transverse momentum and pseudorapidity of the leading jet, rapidity difference between the jets and the dijet invariant mass. Our results are compared to recent LHCb data on forward production of heavy flavour dijets, measured recently for the first time individually for both, charm and bottom flavours. We found that an agreement between the predictions and the data within the full $k_T$-factorization is strongly related to the modelling of the large-$x$ behaviour of the gluon uPDFs which is usually not well constrained. The problem may be avoided following the hybrid factorization approach. Then a good description of the measured distributions is obtained with the Parton-Branching, the Kimber-Martin-Ryskin, the Kutak-Sapeta and the Jung setA0 CCFM gluon uPDFs. We calculate also differential distributions for the ratio of $c \bar c$ and $b \bar b$ cross sections. In all cases we obtain the ratio close to 1 which is caused by the condition on minimal jet transverse momentum ($p_{T}^{\mathrm{jet}} > 20$ GeV) introduced in the experiment, that makes the role of heavy quark mass almost negligible. The LHCb experimental ratio seems a bit larger. We discuss potentially important for the ratio effect of $c$- or $b$-quark gluon radiative corrections related to emission outside of the jet cone. The found effect seems rather small. More refine calculation requires full simulation of $c$- and $b$-jets which goes beyond of the scope of the present paper.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Impact of the LHCb $p\!+\!\!^{4}\!H\!e$ fixed-target $D^0/\bar{D^0}$ data on the intrinisic $c \bar c$ component in the nucleon

We discuss the impact of the new LHCb fixed-target $p\!+\!^{4}\!He$ data for $D^0/{\bar D}^0$ production on the intrinsic $c \bar c$ component in the nucleon wave function. Within the scenario presented here neither the traditional gluon-gluon fusion or quark-antiquark annihilation mechanisms calculated in the $k_T$-factorization approach nor their counterparts from the collinear next-to-leading order collinear framework are sufficient to describe the transverse momentum and rapidity distributions of $D^0/{\bar D}^0$ mesons. First the $c{\bar c}$-pair production within the standard frameworks is considered. Here a crucial role of the $c \to D$ hadronization effects at low energies and low transverse momenta is found and discussed, which was not analyzed in previous studies. A contribution related to intrinsic $c \bar c$ component in the nucleon wave function is included in addition. Two models of the symmetric ($c(x) = \bar c(x)$) intrinsic charm (IC) component are considered. The intrinsic charm $g^* c \to g c$ (or $g^* {\bar c} \to g {\bar c}$) contribution needs to be regularized in order to obtain a suppression of the minijet $p_{T}$ spectrum present in the phenomenological minijet model, commonly used in Monte Carlo generators. We show that in our model the regularization parameter can be obtained from the fit to the LHCb fixed-target data under consideration here. We discuss uncertainties of our calculations (scale, charm quark mass, fragmentation function) as well as set limits on the IC probability. According to our model the intrinsic charm probability $P_{IC} = 1.65\%$ allows to significantly improve description of the LHCb data but the number is rather uncertain.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Hadron structure at small-x via unintegrated gluon densities

Inclusive as well as exclusive emissions in forward and central directions of rapidity are widely recognized as excellent channels to access the proton structure at small-x. In this regime, to describe nucleons structure, it is necessary to use kT-unintegrated distributions. In particular, at large transverse momenta, the x-evolution of the so-called unintegrated gluon distribution is driven by the Balitsky-Fadin-Kuraev-Lipatov equation, within the framework of the high-energy factorization (HEF). Recent analyses on the diffractive electroproduction of ρmesons have corroborated the underlying assumption that the small-size dipole scattering mechanism is at work, thus validating the use of the HEF formalism. Nonetheless, a significant sensitivity of polarized cross sections to intermediate values of the meson transverse momenta, where, in the case of inclusive emissions, a description at the hand of the transverse momentum dependent (TMD) factorization starts to be the most appropriate framework, has been observed. In this work, we will review the formal description of the UGD within the BFKL approach and present some UGD models that have been proposed, then we will describe the state of the art of some recent phenomenological analyses.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Production of dileptons via photon-photon fusion in proton-proton collisions with one forward proton measurement

We discuss the mechanism of dilepton production in proton-proton scattering via fusion of virtual photons with identification of one proton on either side. This is relevant for the ATLAS+AFP and CMS+PPS at the LHC. Transverse momenta of the photons are taken into account via photon unintegrated fluxes. The latter ones are expressed in terms of proton electromagnetic form factors and structure functions. We include different categories of such processes (double elastic, single dissociative). Some differential distributions are shown explicitly and differences with respect to the results without proton identification are discussed. A soft gap survival factor is calculated using SuperChic-4 code.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

From Wigner distributions of photons to dilepton production in semicentral heavy ion collisions

We present a formalism how to calculate differential distributions for dilepton production in semicentral heavy ion collisions. In this new approach, the differential cross section is calculated using the complete polarization density matrix of photons resulting from the Wigner distribution formalism. The formalism is used to calculate different distributions of the invariant mass, dilepton transverse momentum and acoplanarity for different regions of centrality. The results of the calculation are compared with recent experimental data. We also study the contribution from different parts of impact parameter space.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Exclusive production of $ρ$-mesons in high-energy factorization at HERA and EIC

We calculate cross sections for the exclusive diffractive leptoproduction of $ρ$-mesons, $γ^*~p~\to~ρ~p$, within the framework of high-energy factorization. Cross sections for longitudinally and transversally polarized mesons are shown. We employ a wide variety of unintegrated gluon distributions available in the literature and compare to HERA data. The resulting cross sections strongly depend on the choice of unintegrated gluon distribution. We also present predictions for the proton target in the kinematics of the Brookhaven EIC.

hep-ph↗