Date

Observation of coherent $\phi$(1020) meson photoproduction in ultraperipheral PbPb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\text{NN}}$ = 5.36 TeV

The CMS collaboration Chekhovsky, Vladimir ; Hayrapetyan, Aram ; Makarenko, Vladimir ; et al.
CMS-HIN-24-009, 2025.
Inspire Record 2908607 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.156183

The first observation of coherent $\phi$(1020) meson photoproduction off heavy nuclei is presented using ultraperipheral lead-lead collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of 5.36 TeV. The data were collected by the CMS experiment and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 1.68 $\mu$b$^{-1}$. The $\phi$(1020) meson signals are reconstructed via the K$^+$K$^-$ decay channel. The production cross section is presented as a function of the $\phi$(1020) meson rapidity in the range 0.3 $\lt$$\lvert y\rvert$$\lt$ 1.0, probing gluons that carry a fraction of the nucleon momentum ($x$) around $10^{-4}$. The observed cross section exhibits little dependence on rapidity and is significantly suppressed, by a factor of ${\sim}$5, compared to a baseline model that treats a nucleus as a collection of free nucleons. Theoretical models that incorporate either nuclear shadowing or gluon saturation predict suppression of the $\phi$(1020) meson cross section with only a small dependence on rapidity, but the magnitude of the predicted suppression varies greatly. Models considering only nuclear shadowing effects result in the best agreement with the experimental data. This study establishes a powerful new tool for exploring nuclear effects and nuclear gluonic structure in the small-$x$ regime at a unique energy scale bridging the perturbative and nonperturbative quantum chromodynamics domains.

1 data table

The differential coherent $\phi$ photoproduction cross section and the nuclear suppression factor as a function of rapidity.


Small-$x$ evolution of gluon fields from incoherent J/$\psi$ photoproduction in ultraperipheral PbPb collisions

The CMS collaboration Chekhovsky, Vladimir ; Hayrapetyan, Aram ; Makarenko, Vladimir ; et al.
Phys.Rev.Lett. 135 (2025) 112301, 2025.
Inspire Record 2899343 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.156185

Incoherent J/$ψ$ photoproduction in heavy ion ultraperipheral collisions (UPCs) provides a sensitive probe of localized, fluctuating gluonic structures within heavy nuclei. This study reports the first measurement of the photon-nucleon center-of-mass energy ($W_{γ\mathrm{N}}$) dependence of this process in PbPb UPCs at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV, using 1.52 nb$^{-1}$ of data recorded by the CMS experiment. The measurement covers a wide $W_{γ\mathrm{N}}$ range of $\approx$ 40-400 GeV, probing gluons carrying a fraction $x$ of nucleon momentum down to an unexplored region of 6.5 $\times$ 10$^{-5}$. Compared to baseline predictions neglecting nuclear effects, the measured cross sections exhibit significantly greater suppression at lower $x$. Additionally, the ratio of incoherent to coherent photoproduction is found to be constant across the probed $W_{γ\mathrm{N}}$ and $x$ range, disfavoring the establishment of the black disk limit. This study provides critical insights into the $x$-dependent evolution of fluctuating gluonic structures within nuclei and calls for further advancements in theoretical models incorporating nuclear shadowing and gluon saturation.

8 data tables

The differential incoherent $\mathrm{J}/\psi$ photoproduction cross section as a function of $|y|$, in different neutron multiplicity classes.

The differential incoherent $\mathrm{J}/\psi$ photoproduction cross section as a function of $y$, in different neutron multiplicity classes.

The incoherent $\mathrm{J}/\psi$ photoproduction cross section as a function of photon-nuclear center-of-mass energy per nucleon $W_{\gamma \mathrm{N}}^{\mathrm{Pb}}$ or Bjorken $x$, measured in PbPb ultra-peripheral collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$ = 5.02 TeV. The $W_{\gamma \mathrm{N}}^{\mathrm{Pb}}$ values used correspond to the center of each rapidity range. The theoretical uncertainties is due to the uncertainties in the photon flux.

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Exclusive and dissociative J/$\psi$ photoproduction, and exclusive dimuon production, in p$-$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 8.16$ TeV

The ALICE collaboration Acharya, Shreyasi ; Adamova, Dagmar ; Adler, Alexander ; et al.
Phys.Rev.D 108 (2023) 112004, 2023.
Inspire Record 2654315 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.144875

The ALICE Collaboration reports three measurements in ultra-peripheral proton$-$lead collisions at forward rapidity. The exclusive two-photon process \ggmm and the exclusive photoproduction of J/$\psi$ are studied. J/$\psi$ photoproduction with proton dissociation is measured for the first time at a hadron collider. The cross section for the two-photon process of dimuons in the invariant mass range from 1 to 2.5 GeV/$c^2$ agrees with leading order quantum electrodynamics calculations. The exclusive and dissociative cross sections for J/$\psi$ photoproductions are measured for photon$-$proton centre-of-mass energies from 27 to 57 GeV. They are in good agreement with HERA results.

6 data tables

Differential cross sections DSIGMA/DM for exclusive GAMMA* GAMMA* to MU+ MU- production in p–Pb UPCs for each mass and rapidity interval

Exclusive J/psi photoproduction cross section in p-Pb UPC.

Dissociative J/psi photoproduction cross section in p-Pb UPC.

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Version 2
Probing small Bjorken-$x$ nuclear gluonic structure via coherent J/$\psi$ photoproduction in ultraperipheral PbPb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV

The CMS collaboration Tumasyan, Armen ; Adam, Wolfgang ; Andrejkovic, Janik Walter ; et al.
Phys.Rev.Lett. 131 (2023) 262301, 2023.
Inspire Record 2648536 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.138867

Quasireal photons exchanged in relativistic heavy ion interactions are powerful probes of the gluonic structure of nuclei. The coherent J/$\psi$ photoproduction cross section in ultraperipheral lead-lead collisions is measured as a function of photon-nucleus center-of-mass energies per nucleon (W$^\text{Pb}_{\gamma\text{N}}$), over a wide range of 40 $\lt$ W$^\text{Pb}_{\gamma\text{N}}$$\lt$ 400 GeV. Results are obtained using data at the nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.52 nb$^{-1}$. The cross section is observed to rise rapidly at low W$^\text{Pb}_{\gamma\text{N}}$, and plateau above W$^\text{Pb}_{\gamma\text{N}}$$\approx$ 40 GeV, up to 400 GeV, a new regime of small Bjorken-$x$ ($\approx$ 6 $\times$ 10$^{-5}$) gluons being probed in a heavy nucleus. The observed energy dependence is not predicted by current quantum chromodynamic models.

16 data tables

The differential coherent $\mathrm{J}/\psi$ photoproduction cross section as a function of rapidity, in different neutron multiplicity classes: 0n0n, 0nXn, XnXn , and AnAn.

The differential coherent $\mathrm{J}/\psi$ photoproduction cross section as a function of rapidity, in different neutron multiplicity classes: 0n0n, 0nXn, XnXn , and AnAn.

The total coherent $\mathrm{J}/\psi$ photoproduction cross section as a function of photon-nuclear center-of-mass energy per nucleon $W_{\gamma \mathrm{N}}^{\mathrm{Pb}}$, measured in PbPb ultra-peripheral collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$ = 5.02 TeV. The $W_{\gamma \mathrm{N}}^{\mathrm{Pb}}$ values used correspond to the center of each rapidity range. The theoretical uncertainties is due to the uncertainties in the photon flux.

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Measurement of the charge asymmetry in top-quark pair production in association with a photon with the ATLAS experiment

The ATLAS collaboration Aad, Georges ; Abbott, Braden Keim ; Abbott, Dale ; et al.
Phys.Lett.B 843 (2023) 137848, 2023.
Inspire Record 2616326 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.140834

A measurement of the charge asymmetry in top-quark pair ($t\bar{t}$) production in association with a photon is presented. The measurement is performed in the single-lepton $t\bar{t}$ decay channel using proton-proton collision data collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN at a centre-of-mass-energy of 13 TeV during the years 2015-2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb$^{-1}$. The charge asymmetry is obtained from the distribution of the difference of the absolute rapidities of the top quark and antiquark using a profile likelihood unfolding approach. It is measured to be $A_\text{C}=-0.003 \pm 0.029$ in agreement with the Standard Model expectation.

4 data tables

The measured asymmetry of top quark pairs in $t\bar{t}\gamma$ production in a fiducial region at particle level.

Normalised differential cross section as a function of $|y(t)| - |y(\bar{t})|$. The observed data is compared with the SM expectation using aMC@NLO+Pythia8 at NLO QCD precision. The value of the charge asymmetry corresponds to the difference between the two bins. Underflow and overflow events are included in corresponding bins of the distribution.

Definition of the fiducial phase space at particle level. where, $\gamma$: photon $\ell$: lepton j: jet

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Measurement of differential cross sections of isolated-photon plus heavy-flavour jet production in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV using the ATLAS detector

The ATLAS collaboration Aaboud, Morad ; Aad, Georges ; Abbott, Brad ; et al.
Phys.Lett.B 776 (2018) 295-317, 2018.
Inspire Record 1632756 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.79163

This Letter presents the measurement of differential cross sections of isolated prompt photons produced in association with a b-jet or a c-jet. These final states provide sensitivity to the heavy-flavour content of the proton and aspects related to the modelling of heavy-flavour quarks in perturbative QCD. The measurement uses proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2012 corresponding to an integrated luminosity of up to 20.2 fb$^{-1}$. The differential cross sections are measured for each jet flavour with respect to the transverse energy of the leading photon in two photon pseudorapidity regions: $|\eta^\gamma|<1.37$ and $1.56<|\eta^\gamma|<2.37$. The measurement covers photon transverse energies $25 < E_\textrm{T}^\gamma<400$ GeV and $25 < E_\textrm{T}^\gamma<350$ GeV respectively for the two $|\eta^\gamma|$ regions. For each jet flavour, the ratio of the cross sections in the two $|\eta^\gamma|$ regions is also measured. The measurement is corrected for detector effects and compared to leading-order and next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculations, based on various treatments and assumptions about the heavy-flavour content of the proton. Overall, the predictions agree well with the measurement, but some deviations are observed at high photon transverse energies. The total uncertainty in the measurement ranges between 13% and 66%, while the central $\gamma+b$ measurement exhibits the smallest uncertainty, ranging from 13% to 27%, which is comparable to the precision of the theoretical predictions.

12 data tables

Measured fiducial integrated $\gamma+b$ and $\gamma+c$ cross sections for $|\eta^\gamma|<1.37$ and $1.56<|\eta^\gamma|<2.37$.

Measured $\gamma+b$ fiducial differential cross section as a function of $E_\text{T}^\gamma$ for $|\eta^\gamma|<1.37$.

Measured $\gamma+b$ fiducial differential cross section as a function of $E_\text{T}^\gamma$ for $1.56<|\eta^\gamma|<2.37$.

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Helicity-dependent cross sections and double-polarization observable E in eta photoproduction from quasi-free protons and neutrons

The A2 collaboration Witthauer, L. ; Dieterle, M. ; Abt, S. ; et al.
Phys.Rev.C 95 (2017) 055201, 2017.
Inspire Record 1589331 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.132013

Precise helicity-dependent cross sections and the double-polarization observable $E$ were measured for $\eta$ photoproduction from quasi-free protons and neutrons bound in the deuteron. The $\eta\rightarrow 2\gamma$ and $\eta\rightarrow 3\pi^0\rightarrow 6\gamma$ decay modes were used to optimize the statistical quality of the data and to estimate systematic uncertainties. The measurement used the A2 detector setup at the tagged photon beam of the electron accelerator MAMI in Mainz. A longitudinally polarized deuterated butanol target was used in combination with a circularly polarized photon beam from bremsstrahlung of a longitudinally polarized electron beam. The reaction products were detected with the electromagnetic calorimeters Crystal Ball and TAPS, which covered 98\% of the full solid angle. The results show that the narrow structure observed earlier in the unpolarized excitation function of $\eta$ photoproduction off the neutron appears only in reactions with antiparallel photon and nucleon spin ($\sigma_{1/2}$). It is absent for reactions with parallel spin orientation ($\sigma_{3/2}$) and thus very probably related to partial waves with total spin 1/2. The behavior of the angular distributions of the helicity-dependent cross sections was analyzed by fitting them with Legendre polynomials. The results are in good agreement with a model from the Bonn-Gatchina group, which uses an interference of $P_{11}$ and $S_{11}$ partial waves to explain the narrow structure.

81 data tables

Diff. cross section for helicity-1/2 at W= 1.505 GeV

Diff. cross section for helicity-1/2 at W= 1.515 GeV

Diff. cross section for helicity-1/2 at W= 1.525 GeV

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Coherent diffractive photoproduction of $\rho^{0}$ mesons on gold nuclei at RHIC

The STAR collaboration Adamczyk, L. ; Adkins, J.K. ; Agakishiev, G. ; et al.
Phys.Rev.C 96 (2017) 054904, 2017.
Inspire Record 1515028 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.101354

The STAR Collaboration reports on the photoproduction of $\pi^+\pi^-$ pairs in gold-gold collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 200 GeV/nucleon-pair. These pion pairs are produced when a nearly-real photon emitted by one ion scatters from the other ion. We fit the $\pi^+\pi^-$ invariant mass spectrum with a combination of $\rho$ and $\omega$ resonances and a direct $\pi^+\pi^-$ continuum. This is the first observation of the $\omega$ in ultra-peripheral collisions, and the first measurement of $\rho-\omega$ interference at energies where photoproduction is dominated by Pomeron exchange. The $\omega$ amplitude is consistent with the measured $\gamma p\rightarrow \omega p$ cross section, a classical Glauber calculation and the $\omega\rightarrow\pi^+\pi^-$ branching ratio. The $\omega$ phase angle is similar to that observed at much lower energies, showing that the $\rho-\omega$ phase difference does not depend significantly on photon energy. The $\rho^0$ differential cross section $d\sigma/dt$ exhibits a clear diffraction pattern, compatible with scattering from a gold nucleus, with 2 minima visible. The positions of the diffractive minima agree better with the predictions of a quantum Glauber calculation that does not include nuclear shadowing than with a calculation that does include shadowing.

13 data tables

The $\pi^+\pi^-$ invariant-mass distribution for all selected $\pi\pi$ candidates with $p_T~<~100~\textrm{MeV}/c$.

The ratio $|B/A|$ of amplitudes of nonresonant $\pi^+\pi^-$ and $\rho^0$ mesons in the present STAR analysis.

The ratio $|B/A|$ of amplitudes of nonresonant $\pi^+\pi^-$ and $\rho^0$ mesons in the previous STAR analysis, Phys. Rev. C 77 034910 (2008).

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Photon asymmetry measurements of $\overrightarrow{\gamma} \mathrm{p} \rightarrow \pi^{0} \mathrm{p}$ for E$_{\gamma}$=320$-$650 MeV

The MAINZ-A2 collaboration Gardner, S. ; Howdle, D. ; Sikora, M.H. ; et al.
Eur.Phys.J.A 52 (2016) 333, 2016.
Inspire Record 1472369 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.129289

High statistics measurements of the photon asymmetry $\mathrm{\Sigma}$ for the $\overrightarrow{\gamma}$p$\rightarrow\pi^{0}$p reaction have been made in the center of mass energy range W=1214-1450 MeV. The data were measured with the MAMI A2 real photon beam and Crystal Ball/TAPS detector systems in Mainz, Germany. The results significantly improve the existing world data and are shown to be in good agreement with previous measurements, and with the MAID, SAID, and Bonn-Gatchina predictions. We have also combined the photon asymmetry results with recent cross-section measurements from Mainz to calculate the profile functions, $\check{\mathrm{\Sigma}}$ (= $\sigma_{0}\mathrm{\Sigma}$), and perform a moment analysis. Comparison with calculations from the Bonn-Gatchina model shows that the precision of the data is good enough to further constrain the higher partial waves, and there is an indication of interference between the very small $F$-waves and the $N(1520) 3/2^{-}$ and $N(1535) 1/2^{-}$ resonances.

78 data tables

Photon beam asymmetry Sigma at W=1.2159988 GeV

Photon beam asymmetry Sigma at W=1.2194968 GeV

Photon beam asymmetry Sigma at W=1.2225014 GeV

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The 16O(γ, 2N) reaction measured with tagged photons

MacGregor, I.J.D. ; Annand, J.R.M. ; Anthony, I. ; et al.
Nucl.Phys.A 533 (1991) 269-291, 1991.
Inspire Record 1389764 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.36763

The results of tagged photon measurements of the 16O(γ, pn) and 16O(γ, pp) reactions, carried out with photons of energies of 80–131 MeV, are presented. Missing energy spectra for both reactions, with an energy resolution of 7 MeV have been obtained. The 16O(γ, pn) missing energy spectrum is very similar to that recently measured for the 12C(γ, pN) reaction. In both cases the recoil momentum distributions are quantitavely described by a quasideuteron mechanism. Using normalisation factors based on this mechanism the average cross section for the 16O(γ, pn) reaction, for nucleons ejected from the 1p shell, is 510 ± 95 μb. The corresponding cross section for the 16O(γ, pp) reaction is 10.0 ± 3.0 μb.

2 data tables

PROPOSED THAT THE REACTION IS DUE TO A QUASI DEUTERON MECHANISM AND P N PAIRS E]ECT FROM THE 1P SHELL.

PROPOSED THAT THE REACTION IS DUE TO A QUASI DEUTERON MECHANISM AND P N PAIRS E]ECT FROM THE 1P SHELL.