The invariant differential cross section for inclusive neutral pion production in p+p collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV has been measured at mid-rapidity |eta| < 0.35 over the range 1 < p_T <~ 14 GeV/c by the PHENIX experiment at RHIC. Predictions of next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations are consistent with these measurements. The precision of our result is sufficient to differentiate between prevailing gluon-to-pion fragmentation functions.
The invariant differential cross section as a function of PT. The mean PT here is defined as the PT for which the cross section equals its average over thebin.