1 research outputs found
Saturation Physics in Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays: Heavy Quark Production
In this work we estimate the heavy quark production in the interaction of
ultra high energy cosmic rays in the atmosphere, considering that the primary
cosmic ray is a proton or a photon. At these energies the saturation momentum
Q_{sat}^2 stays above the hard scale \mu_c^2=4m_c^2, implying charm production
probing the saturation regime. In particular, we show that the ep HERA data
presents a scaling on \tau_c = (Q^2+\mu_c^2)/Q_{sat}^2. We derive our results
considering the dipole picture and the Color Glass Condensate formalism, which
one shows to be able to describe the heavy quark production in photon-proton
and proton-proton collisions. Nuclear effects are considered in computation of
cross sections for scattering on air nuclei. Implications on the flux of prompt
leptons at the earth are analyzed and a large suppression is predicted.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables. Version to be published in JHE