AUTHOR=Zhang Zuman , Li Sha , Yu Ning , Zhu Zhong 

TITLE=Heavy-flavor hadron decays producing muon cross sections in pp collisions at high transverse momentum

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Physics

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physics/articles/10.3389/fphy.2023.1188989

DOI=10.3389/fphy.2023.1188989

ISSN=2296-424X

ABSTRACT=<p>The focus of this work was on investigating and comparing two methods for calculating the cross sections of muons produced by the decay of heavy-flavor hadrons in pp collisions, which cover the interval 2<inline-formula id="inf1"><mml:math id="m1" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mo>&lt;</mml:mo><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>p</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">T</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:msub><mml:mo>&lt;</mml:mo></mml:math></inline-formula> 20 GeV/<italic>c</italic> at a center-of-mass energy of <inline-formula id="inf2"><mml:math id="m2" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:msqrt><mml:mrow><mml:mi>s</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:msqrt></mml:math></inline-formula> = 7 TeV. One method involves using the fixed-order plus next-to-leading logarithms (FONLL) approach to scale the measured <italic>p</italic><sub>T</sub>-differential cross section of muons from heavy-flavor hadron decay in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of <inline-formula id="inf3"><mml:math id="m3" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:msqrt><mml:mrow><mml:mi>s</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:msqrt></mml:math></inline-formula> = 5.02 TeV. The other method involves using FONLL calculations to extrapolate the published measured <italic>p</italic><sub>T</sub>-differential cross section at <inline-formula id="inf4"><mml:math id="m4" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:msqrt><mml:mrow><mml:mi>s</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:msqrt></mml:math></inline-formula> = 7 TeV to higher <italic>p</italic><sub>T</sub>. In these two methods, we can use the published measured <italic>p</italic><sub>T</sub>-differential cross section at <inline-formula id="inf5"><mml:math id="m5" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:msqrt><mml:mrow><mml:mi>s</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:msqrt></mml:math></inline-formula> = 5.02 TeV and <inline-formula id="inf6"><mml:math id="m6" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:msqrt><mml:mrow><mml:mi>s</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:msqrt></mml:math></inline-formula> = 7 TeV, which cover the interval 2<inline-formula id="inf7"><mml:math id="m7" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mo>&lt;</mml:mo><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>p</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">T</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:msub><mml:mo>&lt;</mml:mo></mml:math></inline-formula> 20 GeV/<italic>c</italic> and 2<inline-formula id="inf8"><mml:math id="m8" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mo>&lt;</mml:mo><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>p</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">T</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:msub><mml:mo>&lt;</mml:mo></mml:math></inline-formula> 12 GeV/<italic>c</italic>, respectively. In terms of consistency within uncertainties, the results from both methods were compared not only to pQCD-based FONLL calculations but also to each other. Because they provide the necessary pp reference, these calculations are critical for determining the nuclear modification factor of muons from heavy flavor decays in heavy-ion collisions.</p>