arXiv subjects

M. Zhalov

Publications and source records attributed to M. Zhalov.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2023

Photoproduction of $J/\psi$ with neutron tagging in ultra-peripheral collisions of nuclei at RHIC and the LHC

We present predictions for the cross sections of the coherent and incoherent $J/\psi$ photoproduction in ultra-peripheral collisions at RHIC and at the LHC calculated for different classes of events depending on the presence of neutrons emitted by colliding nuclei. Since strong nucleus-nucleus interactions in UPCs are suppressed, it is usually assumed that neutrons at forward rapidities originate mainly from the electromagnetic dissociation of colliding nuclei caused by additional photon exchanges. This is a reasonable assumption for the coherent photoproduction where the state of the target nucleus remains intact. We consider additional sources of neutrons in the incoherent quasielastic and nucleon dissociative $J/\psi$ photoproduction and show that these processes significantly change probabilities of neutron emission compared to calculations when only neutrons from electromagnetic dissociation of nuclei are considered. Such studies should allow one to explore the dynamics of nuclear shadowing in the incoherent $J/\psi$ photoproduction down to $x \sim 10^{-5}$.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Photoproduction of $J/\psi$ in d+Au ultraperipheral collisions at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider

We argue that the STAR data on $J/\psi$ photoproduction in $d+Au$ ultraperipheral collisions (UPCs) at the momentum transfer $t \neq 0$ primarily probes elastic and possibly nucleon-dissociative $J/\psi$ photoproduction on quasi-free nucleons, while being essentially insensitive to expectedly weak nuclear modifications of the gluon distribution in the deuteron. Analyzing the STAR detector capabilities for selection of UPC events, we explore the possibility that the contribution of nucleon-dissociative $J/\psi$ photoproduction is negligibly small and obtain a very good description of the $t$ dependence of the STAR total cross section.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

UPC contribution to forward rapidity gap distribution in pPb collisions at the LHC

In this Letter, we consider strong and electromagnetic (ultraperipheral) mechanisms in proton-nucleus coherent diffraction at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. We explicitly demonstrate the dominance of the latter and explain the CMS data on the forward rapidity gap distribution in $pPb$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=8.16$ TeV. In particular, we provide simple estimates, which give a good, semi-quantitative description of both magnitude and shape of the $\Delta \eta^F$ distribution in the Pomeron-proton topology. We also make predictions for the proton-oxygen run.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Nuclear suppression from coherent $J/ψ$ photoproduction at the Large Hadron Collider

Using the data on coherent $J/ψ$ photoproduction in Pb-Pb ultraperipheral collisions (UPCs) obtained in Runs 1 and 2 at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), we determined with a good accuracy the nuclear suppression factor of $S_{Pb}(x)$ in a wide range of the momentum fraction $x$, $10^{-5} \leq x \leq 0.04$. In the small-$x$ region $x < 10^{-3}$, our $χ^2$ fit favors a flat form of $S_{Pb}(x) \approx 0.6$ with approximately a 5% accuracy for $x=6 \times 10^{-4} - 10^{-3} $ and a 25% error at $x=10^{-4}$. At the same time, uncertainties of the fit do not exclude a slow decrease of $S_{Pb}(x)$ in the small-$x$ limit. At large $x$, $S_{Pb}(x)$ is constrained to better than 10% precision up to $x=0.04$ and is also consistent with the value of $S_{Pb}(x)$ at $\langle x \rangle =0.042$, which we extract from the Fermilab data on the $A$ dependence of the cross section of coherent $J/ψ$ photoproduction on fixed nuclear targets. The resulting uncertainties on $S_{Pb}(x)$ are small, which indicates the potential of the LHC data on coherent charmonium photoproduction in Pb-Pb UPCs to provide additional constraints on small-$x$ nPDFs. We explicitly demonstrate this using as an example the EPPS16 and nCTEQ16 nuclear parton distribution functions, whose uncertainties decrease severalfold after the Bayesian reweighting of the discussed UPC data.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

Incoherent $ρ$ meson photoproduction in ultraperipheral nuclear collisions at the LHC

Using the Gribov-Glauber model for photon-nucleus scattering and a generalization of the vector meson dominance model for the hadronic structure of the photon, we make predictions for the cross section of incoherent $ρ$ photoproduction in Pb-Pb ultraperipheral collisions (UPCs) in the Large Hadron Collider kinematics. We find that the effect of the inelastic nuclear shadowing is significant and leads to an additional 25% suppression of the incoherent cross section. Comparing our predictions to those of the STARlight Monte Carlo framework, we observe very significant differences.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2019

Nucleon dissociation and incoherent $J/ψ$ photoproduction on nuclei in ion ultraperipheral collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider

Using the general notion of cross section fluctuations in hadron--nucleus scattering at high energies, we derive an expression for the cross section of incoherent $J/ψ$ photoproduction on heavy nuclei $dσ_{γA \to J/ψY}/dt$, which includes both elastic $dσ_{γp \to J/ψp}/dt$ and proton-dissociation $dσ_{γp \to J/ψY}/dt$ photoproduction on target nucleons. We find that with good accuracy, $dσ_{γA \to J/ψY}/dt$ can be expressed as a product of the sum of the $dσ_{γp \to J/ψp}/dt$ and $dσ_{γp \to J/ψY}/dt$ cross sections, which have been measured at HERA, and the common nuclear shadowing factor, which is calculated using the leading twist nuclear shadowing model. Our prediction for the cross section of incoherent $J/ψ$ photoproduction in Pb-Pb UPCs at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=2.76$ TeV and $y=0$, $dσ_{AA \to J/ψAY}(y=0)/dy=0.59-1.24$ mb, agrees within significant theoretical uncertainties with the data of the ALICE collaboration.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2018

Photoproduction of light vector mesons in Xe-Xe ultraperipheral collisions at the LHC and the nuclear density of Xe-129

We make predictions for cross sections of $ρ$ and $ϕ$ vector meson photoproduction in ultraperipheral Xe-Xe collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.44$ TeV. Analyzing the momentum transfer distribution of $ρ$ mesons in this process, we explore the feasibility of extracting the nuclear density of $^{129}$Xe, which is needed in searches for dark matter with Xenon-based detectors.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2017

Mapping color fluctuations in the photon in ultraperipheral heavy ion collisions at the Large Hadron Collider

We model effects of color fluctuations (CFs) in the light-cone photon wave function and for the first time make predictions for the distribution over the number of wounded nucleons $ν$ in the inelastic photon-nucleus scattering. We show that CFs lead to a dramatic enhancement of this distribution at $ν=1$ and large $ν> 10$. We also study the implications of different scales and CFs in the photon wave function on the total transverse energy $ΣE_T$ and other observables in inelastic $γA$ scattering with different triggers. Our predictions can be tested in proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus ultraperipheral collisions at the LHC and will help to map CFs, whose first indications have already been observed at the LHC.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2017

Accessing transverse nucleon and gluon distributions in heavy nuclei using coherent vector meson photoproduction at high energies in ion ultraperipheral collisions

By using the theoretical approaches describing well the available data on $t$-integrated coherent photoproduction of light and heavy vector mesons in Pb-Pb ultraperipheral collisions (UPCs) at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Run 1, we calculate the momentum transfer distributions for this process for $ρ$ and $J/ψ$ vector mesons in the kinematics of Run 2 at the LHC. We demonstrate that nuclear shadowing not only suppresses the absolute value of the cross sections, but also shifts the momentum transfer distributions toward smaller values of the momentum transfer $|t|$. This result can be interpreted as a broadening in the impact parameter space of the effective nucleon density in nuclei by 14\% in the case of $ρ$ and the nuclear gluon distribution by $5-11$\% in the case of $J/ψ$.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2016

Coherent photoproduction of vector mesons in heavy ion ultraperipheral collisions: Update for run 2 at the CERN Large Hadron Collider

We make predictions for the cross sections of coherent photoproduction of $ρ$, $ϕ$, $J/ψ$, $ψ(2S)$, and $Υ(1S)$ mesons in Pb-Pb ultraperipheral collisions (UPCs) at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02$ TeV in the kinematics of run 2 at the Large Hadron Collider extending the approaches successfully describing the available Pb-Pb UPC data at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=2.76$ TeV. Our results illustrate the important roles of hadronic fluctuations of the photon and inelastic nuclear shadowing in photoproduction of light vector mesons on nuclei and the large leading twist nuclear gluon shadowing in photoproduction of quarkonia on nuclei. We show that the ratio of $ψ(2S)$ and $J/ψ$ photoproduction cross sections in Pb-Pb UPCs is largely determined by the ratio of these cross sections on the proton. We also argue that UPCs with electromagnetic excitations of the colliding ions followed by the forward neutron emission allows one to significantly increase the range of photon energies accessed in vector meson photoproduction on nuclei.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2016

Nuclear shadowing in photoproduction of $ρ$ mesons in ultraperipheral nucleus collisions at RHIC and the LHC

We argue that with an increase of the collision energy, elastic photoproduction of $ρ$ mesons on nuclei becomes affected by the significant cross section of photon inelastic diffraction into large masses, which results in the sizable inelastic nuclear shadowing correction to $σ_{γA \to ρA}$ and the reduced effective $ρ$-nucleon cross section. We take these effects into account by combining the vector meson dominance model, which we upgrade to include the contribution of high-mass fluctuations of the photon according to QCD constraints, and the Gribov-Glauber approximation for nuclear shadowing, where the inelastic nuclear shadowing is included by means of cross section fluctuations. The resulting approach allows us to successfully describe the data on elastic $ρ$ photoproduction on nuclei in heavy ion UPCs in the $7 \ {\rm GeV} < W_{γp} < 46$ GeV energy range and to predict the value of the cross section of coherent $ρ$ photoproduction in Pb-Pb UPCs at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02$ TeV in Run 2 at the LHC, $dσ_{Pb Pb \to ρPb Pb} (y=0)/dy= 560 \pm 25$ mb.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

Disentangling coherent and incoherent quasielastic $J/ψ$ photoproduction on nuclei by neutron tagging in ultraperipheral ion collisions at the LHC

We consider $J/ψ$ photoproduction in ion--ion ultraperipheral collisions (UPCs) at the LHC and RHIC in the coherent and incoherent quasielastic channels with and without accompanying forward neutron emission and analyze the role of nuclear gluon shadowing at small $x$, $x=10^{-4}-10^{-2}$, in these processes. We find that despite the good agreement between large nuclear gluon shadowing and the ALICE data in the coherent channel, in the incoherent channel, the leading twist approximation predicts the amount of nuclear suppression which is by approximately a factor of $1.5$ exceeds that seen in the data. We hypothesize that part of the discrepancy can be accounted for by the incoherent inelastic process of $J/ψ$ photoproduction with nucleon dissociation. To separate the high-photon-energy and low-photon-energy contributions to the $d σ_{AA\to AAJ/ψ}(y)/dy$ cross section, we consider ion--ion UPCs accompanied by neutron emission due to electromagnetic excitation of one or both colliding nuclei. We describe the corresponding PHENIX data and make predictions for the LHC kinematics. In addition, in the incoherent quasielastic case, we show that the separation between the low-photon-energy and high-photon-energy contributions can be efficiently performed by measuring the correlation between the directions of $J/ψ$ and the emitted neutrons.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

Photoproduction of $J/ψ$ and $ψ(2S)$ in proton-proton ultraperipheral collisions at the LHC

Using the framework of leading order perturbative QCD along with the CTEQ6L1 gluon distribution of the proton and high-energy HERA data on the $γp \to J/ψp$ and $γp \to ψ(2S) p$ cross sections along with the corresponding H1 fit, we obtain a good description of the rapidity dependence of the cross sections of photoproduction of $J/ψ$ or $ψ(2S)$ mesons in proton--proton ultraperipheral collisions (UPCs) measured by the LHCb collaboration at the LHC. Within the same framework we also make predictions for the $pp \to pp J/ψ$ and $pp \to pp ψ(2S)$ UPC cross sections at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=8$ and 14 TeV. We show that the possible contribution of the $p \to Δγ$ transition to the photon flux discernibly increases the $pp \to ppV$ UPC cross section and thus can affect the theoretical interpretation of results.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

Comparison of $ψ(2S)$ and $J/ψ$ photoproduction cross sections in Pb-Pb ultraperipheral collisions at the LHC

Within the leading logarithmic approximation of perturbative QCD and the leading twist approach to nuclear shadowing, we compare the cross sections of photoproduction of $J/ψ$ and $ψ(2S)$ mesons on nuclei in Pb-Pb UPCs in the LHC kinematics. We find that the nuclear suppression of these cross sections due to the nuclear gluon shadowing is large and rather similar in the $J/ψ$ and $ψ(2S)$ cases.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

Rapidity and momentum transfer distributions of coherent $J/ψ$ photoproduction in ultraperipheral pPb collisions at the LHC

Based on accurate calculations of the flux of equivalent photons of the proton and heavy nuclei and the pQCD framework for the gluon distribution in the proton and nuclei, we analyze the rapidity and momentum transfer distributions of coherent $J/ψ$ photoproduction in ultraperipheral proton-Pb collisions at the LHC. We demonstrate that unlike the case of proton-proton UPCs marred by certain theoretical uncertainties and experimental limitations, after a cut excluding the region of small momentum transfers, ultraperipheral proton-Pb collisions offer a clean way to study the gluon distribution in the proton down to $x \approx 10^{-5}$. Our analysis of the momentum transfer distributions shows that an interplay of $J/ψ$ production by low-energy photons on the nucleus and by high-energy photons on the proton in proton-Pb UPCs can result in some excess of events at small $p_t$ in a definite region of the rapidity y.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2013

Exclusive J/ψ production in ultraperipheral collisions at the LHC: constrains on the gluon distributions in the proton and nuclei

Using the framework of collinear factorization in perturbative QCD (pQCD), we analyze the recent data of the LHCb and ALICE collaborations on exclusive photoproduction of J/ψ in ultraperipheral pp and AA collisions, respectively. We demonstrate that the simultaneous analysis of the proton and Pb data allows us to reduce the ambiguity of the pQCD description of the $γp \to J/ψp$ and $γA \to J/ψp$ cross sections and, hence, to place additional constraints on the gluon distributions in the nucleon and nuclei at small x. We also make predictions for the cross section of coherent exclusive photoproduction of J/ψ in nucleus-nucleus ultraperipheral collisions accompanied by the electromagnetic excitation of nuclei and the subsequent neutron emission.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2013

Evidence for nuclear gluon shadowing from the ALICE measurements of PbPb ultraperipheral exclusive J/ψ production

We show that the recent ALICE measurements of exclusive J/ψ production in ultraperipheral PbPb collisions at 2.76 TeV provide the first direct experimental evidence for the strong nuclear gluon shadowing in lead at $x \sim 10^{-3}$. The evidence is based on the comparison of the nuclear suppression factor S(x\approx 0.001)=0.61^{+0.05}_{-0.04} found in the analysis of the coherent J/ψ photoproduction cross sections measured by ALICE with the nuclear gluon shadowing predicted by the global fits of nuclear parton distributions and by the leading twist theory of nuclear shadowing.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2011

Coherent rho and J/psi photoproduction in ultraperipheral processes with electromagnetic dissociation of heavy ions at RHIC and LHC

We present predictions for the J/psi and rho meson production in the heavy ion ultraperipheral collisions (UPC) for the current energy 2.76 TeV at the LHC. Both total cross sections and cross sections with the neutron emission from one or both nuclei are presented. We also analyse the RHIC rho meson photoproduction data and emphasize importance of these data to test the current model for nucleus break up in UPC.

hep-ph↗