No Arabic abstract
The first measurement of heavy-flavour production by the LHCb experiment in its fixed-target mode is presented. The production of $J/psi$ and $D^0$ mesons is studied with beams of protons of different energies colliding with gaseous targets of helium and argon with nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energies of $sqrt{s_{NN}} = 86.6 $ and $ 110.4$ ${rm GeV}$, respectively. The $J/psi$ and $D^0$ (including charge conjugate) production cross sections in $p{rm He}$ collisions in the rapidity range $[2,4.6]$ are found to be $sigma_{J/psi} = 652 pm 33$ (stat) $pm 42$ (syst) nb$/$nucleon and $sigma_{D^0} = 80.8 pm 2.4$ (stat) $pm 6.3$ (syst) $mu$b$/$nucleon, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. No evidence for a substantial intrinsic charm content of the nucleon is observed in the large Bjorken-$x$ region.
By extracting the beam with a bent crystal or by using an internal gas target, the multi-TeV proton and lead LHC beams allow one to perform the most energetic fixed-target experiments ever and to study $pp$, $p$d and $p$A collisions at $sqrt{s_{NN}}=115$ GeV and Pb$p$ and PbA collisions at $sqrt{s_{NN}}=72$ GeV with high precision and modern detection techniques. Such studies would address open questions in the domain of the nucleon and nucleus partonic structure at high-$x$, quark-gluon plasma and, by using longitudinally or transversally polarised targets, spin physics. In this paper, we will review the technical solutions to obtain a high-luminosity fixed-target experiment at the LHC and will discuss their possible implementations with the ALICE and LHCb detectors.
We outline the opportunities for spin physics which are offered by a next generation and multi-purpose fixed-target experiment exploiting the proton LHC beam extracted by a bent crystal. In particular, we focus on the study of single transverse spin asymetries with the polarisation of the target.
We argue that the concept of a multi-purpose fixed-target experiment with the proton or lead-ion LHC beams extracted by a bent crystal would offer a number of ground-breaking precision-physics opportunities. The multi-TeV LHC beams will allow for the most energetic fixed-target experiments ever performed. The fixed-target mode has the advantage of allowing for high luminosities, spin measurements with a polarised target, and access over the full backward rapidity domain --uncharted until now-- up to x_F ~ -1.
In this note we provide a detailed derivation of the kinematic limit of the charm production in fixed-target experiments with the intrinsic charm coming from the target. In addition, we discuss the first measurement of charm quark production in the fixed-target configuration at the LHC.
AFTER@LHC is an ambitious fixed-target project in order to address open questions in the domain of proton and neutron spins, Quark Gluon Plasma and high-$x$ physics, at the highest energy ever reached in the fixed-target mode. Indeed, thanks to the highly energetic 7 TeV proton and 2.76 A.TeV lead LHC beams, center-of-mass energies as large as $sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 115 GeV in pp/pA and $sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 72 GeV in AA can be reached, corresponding to an uncharted energy domain between SPS and RHIC. We report two main ways of performing fixed-target collisions at the LHC, both allowing for the usage of one of the existing LHC experiments. In these proceedings, after discussing the projected luminosities considered for one year of data taking at the LHC, we will present a selection of projections for light and heavy-flavour production.