Gluon distributions in nuclei probed at the CERN Large Hadron Collider

Using updated gluon distributions from global fits to data, we investigate the sensitivity of direct photoproduction of heavy quarks and exclusive production of vector mesons to varying strength of gluon modifications. Implications of using these processes for constraining nuclear gluon distributions are discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures; additional results, comments, and references; accepted for publication in Physical Review

Constraining Gluon Shadowing Using Photoproduction in Ultraperipheral pA and AA Collisions

Photoproduction of heavy quarks and exclusive production of vector mesons in ultraperipheral proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions depend significantly on nuclear gluon distributions. In the present study we investigate quantitatively the extent of the applicability of these processes at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in constraining the shadowing component of nuclear gluon modifications.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1104.428

Nuclear effects in photoproduction of heavy quarks and vector mesons in ultraperipheral PbPb and pPb collisions at the LHC

The comparison of photoproduction cross sections for $c\bar{c}$ and b-b(bar) in PbPb and pPb collisions can give sensitivity to nuclear shadowing effects. The photoproduction of vector mesons is even more sensitive to the underlying gluon distributions. In this study we present the cross sections and rapidity dependence of the photoproduction of heavy quarks and exclusive production of vector mesons in ultraperipheral pPb and PbPb collisions at the Large Hadron Collider at sqrt(s_NN)=5 TeV and sqrt(s_NN)=2.76$TeV, respectively. The potentials of using these processes for constraining nuclear gluon shadowing are explored. It is found that photoproduction of$J/\psi$and$\Upsilon$ in PbPb collisions in particular exhibit very good sensitivity to gluon shadowing.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure