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Register a new userConstraining nuclear Parton Density Functions with forward photon production at the LHC
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Authors
Marco van Leeuwen
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In this paper we explore the use of results on forward particle production at the LHC to constrain nuclear Parton Density Functions (nPDFs). The case study here is based on a possible future measurement of forward photon production with the Forward Calorimeter that is currently under discussion as an upgrade of the ALICE experiment. As a starting point, we use the recent nNNPDF 1.0 nuclear PDFs, which have been determined using fixed target neutral-current DIS data, which constrain the gluon density at x > $10^{-2}$. The Bayesian reweighting technique is used to include the constraints from the future measurement.
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We demonstrate that underlying assumptions concerning the structure of constituent parton Fock states in hadrons make a strong impact on the predictions of hadronic interaction models for forward hadron spectra and for long-range correlations between central and forward hadron production. Our analysis shows that combined studies of proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider by central and forward-looking detectors have a rich potential for discriminating between the main model approaches.
Global perturbative QCD analyses, based on large data sets from electron-proton and hadron collider experiments, provide tight constraints on the parton distribution function (PDF) in the proton. The extension of these analyses to nuclear parton distributions (nPDF) has attracted much interest in recent years. nPDFs are needed as benchmarks for the characterization of hot QCD matter in nucleus-nucleus collisions, and attract further interest since they may show novel signatures of non-linear density-dependent QCD evolution. However, it is not known from first principles whether the factorization of long-range phenomena into process-independent parton distribution, which underlies global PDF extractions for the proton, extends to nuclear effects. As a consequence, assessing the reliability of nPDFs for benchmark calculations goes beyond testing the numerical accuracy of their extraction and requires phenomenological tests of the factorization assumption. Here we argue that a proton-nucleus collision program at the LHC would provide a set of measurements allowing for unprecedented tests of the factorization assumption underlying global nPDF fits.
Probes for the small-x parton densities and predicted effects of gluon saturation are discussed. At very low x and intermediate Q, only results on hadronic observables at the LHC are available, which do not provide unambiguous information. It is shown that the measurement of direct photons at forward rapidity at the LHC is particularly promising to provide a unique signal. We further discuss the possibilities to perform such measurements with a detector upgrade in the ALICE experiment and present the R&D activities ongoing.
We compute the leading order (LO) $qgto q gamma$ and next-to-leading order (NLO) $ggto q{bar q} gamma$ contributions to inclusive photon production in proton-proton (p+p) collisions at the LHC. These channels provide the dominant contribution at LO and NLO for photon transverse momenta $k_{gammaperp}$ corresponding to momentum fractions of $xleq 0.01$ in the colliding protons. Our computations, performed in the dilute-dense framework of the Color Glass Condensate effective field theory (CGC EFT), show that the NLO contribution dominates at small-$x$ because it is sensitive to $k_perp$-dependent unintegrated gluon distributions in both of the protons. We predict a maximal $10%$ modification of the cross section at low $k_{gammaperp}$ as a direct consequence of the violation of $k_perp$-factorization. The coherence effects responsible for this modification are enhanced in nuclei and can be identified from inclusive photon measurements in proton-nucleus collisions. We provide numerical results for the isolated inclusive photon cross section for $k_{gammaperp}leq 20$ GeV in p+p collisions that can be tested in the future at the LHC.
Next-to-leading order predictions matched to parton showers are compared with recent ATLAS data on inclusive photon production and CMS data on associated photon and jet production in pp and pPb collisions at different centre-of-mass energies of the LHC. We find good agreement and, as expected, considerably reduced scale uncertainties compared to previous theoretical calculations. Predictions are made for the ratio of inclusive photons over decay photons $R_gamma$, an important quantity to evaluate the significance of additional photon sources, e.g. thermal radiation from a Quark-Gluon-Plasma, and for distributions in the parton momentum fraction in lead ions $x_{rm Pb}^{rm obs}$, that could be determined by ALICE, ATLAS, CMS and LHCb in ongoing analyses of photon+jet production in pPb collisions at $sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02$ TeV. These data should have an important impact on the determination of nuclear effects such as shadowing at low $x$.
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