A precise measurement of the atomic-mass dependence of dimuon production induced by 800-GeV protons is reported. Over 450 000 muon pairs with dimuon mass M≥4 GeV were recorded from targets of H2, C, Ca, Fe, and W. The ratio of dimuon yield per nucleon for nuclei versus H2, R=YA/Y2H, is sensitive to modifications of the antiquark sea in nuclei. No nuclear dependence of this ratio is observed over the range of target-quark momentum fraction 0.1<xt<0.3. For xt<0.1 the ratio is slightly less than unity for the heavy nuclei. These results are compared with predictions of models of the European Muon Collaboration effect.
Absolute cross sections as functions of kinematic variables are presented for the production of muon pairs from 800 GeV proton bombardment of H2. Drell-Yan (continuum) dimuons were recorded in the mass regions 4.5≤Mμ+μ−≤9 GeV and Mμ+μ−≥11 GeV, with an x-Feynman range -0.1≤xF≤0.75. This range corresponds to smaller masses and larger values of xF than previous 800 GeV Drell-Yan data. Cross sections for the Υ(1S) resonance are also given versus the transverse momentum and xF.
The nuclear dependence for 800 GeV/c proton production of neutron D mesons has been measured near xF=0 in Experiment 789 at Fermilab. D mesons from beryllium and gold targets were detected with a pair spectrometer and a silicon vertex detector via their decay D→Kπ. No nuclear dependence is found, with a measured α=1.02±0.03±0.02. The measured differential cross section, dσ/dxF, for neutral-D-meson production at 〈xF〉=0.031 is 58±3±7 μb/nucleon. The integrated cross section obtained by extrapolation of the measured cross section to all xF is 17.7±0.9±3.4 μb/nucleon and is consistent with previous measurements.
The differential cross sections dσ/dxF for J/ψ produced inclusively in 800 GeV/c p-Cu and p-Be collisions have been measured in the kinematic range 0.30≤xF≤0.95 through the decay mode J/ψ→μ+μ−. They are compared with the predictions of the semilocal duality model for several sets of parton density functions. No evidence for a suggested intrinsic charm contribution to the cross section is observed. The ratio of the differential cross sections for Cu and Be targets confirms the suppression of J/ψ production in heavy nuclei at large xF.