We present the first measurement of associated direct photon + muon production in hadronic collisions, from a sample of 1.8 TeV $p \bar p$ collisions recorded with the Collider Detector at Fermilab. Quantum chromodynamics (QCD) predicts that these events are primarily from the Compton scattering process $cg \to c\gamma$, with the final state charm quark producing a muon. Hence this measurement is sensitive to the charm quark content of the proton. The measured cross section of $29\pm 9 pb^{-1}$ is compared to a leading-order QCD parton shower model as well as a next-to-leading-order QCD calculation.
We present a measurement of the cross section and the first measurement of the heavy flavor content of associated direct photon + muon events produced in hadronic collisions. These measurements come from a sample of 1.8 TeV ppbar collisions recorded with the Collider Detector at Fermilab. Quantum chromodynamics (QCD) predicts that these events are primarily due to Compton scattering process charm+gluon -> charm+photon, with the final state charm quark producing a muon. The cross section for events with a photon transverse momentum between 12 and 40 GeV/c is measured to be 46.8+-6.3+-7.5 pb, which is two standard deviations below the most recent theoretical prediction. A significant fraction of the events in the sample contain a final-state bottom quark. The ratio of charm to bottom production is measured to be 2.4+-1.2, in good agreement with QCD models.
Forum