Lepton production from charm decay in nuclear collisions at {radical}{ital s}=200 GeV and 5.5 TeV per nucleon
- Physics Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973 (United States)
Measurements of dilepton production from charm decay and Drell-Yan processes, respectively, probe the gluon and sea quark distributions in hadronic collisions. In nucleus-nucleus collisions, these hard scattering processes constitute a {open_quote}{open_quote}background{close_quote}{close_quote} to thermal contributions from the hot matter produced by the collision. To determine the magnitude and behavior of this background, we calculate the hard scattering contribution to dilepton production in nuclear collisions at RHIC and LHC at next to leading order in perturbative QCD. Invariant mass, rapidity, and transverse momentum distributions are presented. We compare these results to optimistic hydrodynamic estimates of the thermal dilepton production. We find that charm production from hard scattering is by far the dominant contribution. Experiments therefore can measure the gluon distribution in the nuclear target and projectile and, consequently, can provide new information on gluon shadowing. We then illustrate how experimental cuts on the rapidity gap between the leptons can aid in reducing the charm background, thereby enhancing thermal information. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}
- Research Organization:
- Brookhaven National Laboratory
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-76CH00016; AC03-76SF00098
- OSTI ID:
- 389446
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review, C, Journal Name: Physical Review, C Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 54; ISSN PRVCAN; ISSN 0556-2813
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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