Study of Charm Production in Proton-Proton Interactions at Sqrt S = 62 GeV with a Forward K exp - Trigger

摘要

The production of charm mesons D* and D and their subsequent decays D* exp + yields D exp 0 pi exp + and D exp 0 yields K exp - pi exp + have been observed in proton-proton interactions at the CERN Intersecting Storage Rings. Using published data for inclusive K exp - and anti p production cross sections as normalization, the D* exp + production cross section is estimated. For a model with the D* exp + produced with a Feynman-x (x/sub F/) distribution of the form (1-X/sub F/) exp 2 and a transverse momentum distribution of the form P/sub t/*exp(-P/sub t/ exp 2 ), the D* exp + production cross section is estimated to be 23.5 +- 8.4 mu b. This measurement is approximately the same as measurements by other experiments of charm meson production at lower energies. Two other experiments have measured the D exp 0 production cross section at our energy, and obtained a result more than ten times higher than ours. Thus, our measurement provides a possible resolution to what had been an unclear situation in regard to the energy dependence of charm production. (ERA citation 10:011823)