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Title: D-meson hadroproduction in 800-GeV/c p-p interactions

Miscellaneous ·
OSTI ID:6136401

The characteristics of D meson hadroproduction in 800 GeV/C proton-proton collisions have been measured. Comparisons have been made with 400 GeV/c pp data and with theoretical predictions of the QCD fusion model using two different c {yields} D fragmentation processes. The data was obtained from experiment E743 which was carried out at Fermilab. A liquid hydrogen bubble chamber (LEBC) served both as target and high resolution vertex detector. The multiparticle spectrometer (MPS) was used for momentum determination and particle identification. A total of 1.2 million bubble chamber pictures were taken using an interaction trigger. They were scanned three times in order to select the charm candidates. The average charge multiplicity for interactions in which charm particles are produced is (n{sub ch}) = 12.5 +/- 0.8. The total D meson production cross section was calculated to be {sigma}(D/D) = 44 +/-{sup 10}{sub 8} {mu}b for all X{sub F}. The differential cross section was found to be well described by the form: d2{sigma}/dX{sub F}d{sub pT{sup 2}} {proportional to} (1-{vert bar}X{sub F}{vert bar}){sup n}e{sup {minus}bp}T{sup 2}, with n = 9.0{sup +2.6}{sub {minus}2.3} and b = 0.80 {plus minus} 0.14. The average values of X{sub f} (for X{sub F} > 0.) and p{sub T} were (x{sub F}) = .090 +/- .020 and (p{sub T}) = .96 +/- .13 GeV/c. The cross section results are consistent with QCD predictions using next to leading order calculations with a charm mass of about 1.5 GeV/c{sup 2}. The shapes of the differential cross section distributions are described well by the QCD calculations. Both Lund and delta-function c {yields} D fragmentation schemes were used in these calculations. Both describe the date adequately. Only flavor creation QCD subprocesses are needed to describe the E743 data. Flavor excitation and intrinsic charm are not necessary.

Research Organization:
Duke Univ., Durham, NC (USA)
OSTI ID:
6136401
Resource Relation:
Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English