Diffractive vector meson production at large-tt in coherent hadronic interactions at CERN LHC

The diffractive vector meson photoproduction with hadron dissociation in coherent hadron-hadron interactions at LHC energies is studied assuming that the color singlet $t$-channel exchange carries large momentum transfer. We estimate the rapidity distribution and total cross section for the processes $pp \rightarrow p V X$ and $PbPb \rightarrow Pb V X$ ($V = \rho$ or $\Upsilon$) considering the non-forward solution of the BFKL equation at high energy and large momentum transfer. Our results indicate that the experimental identification of these processes can be feasible at the LHC.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Version to be published in European Physical Journal

Probing the BFKL dynamics in the Vector Meson Photoproduction at large -- tt in pPbpPb collisions at the CERN LHC

The photoproduction of vector mesons in $pPb$ collisions at LHC energies is investigated assuming that the color singlet $t$-channel exchange carries a large momentum transfer $t$. The rapidity distributions and total cross sections for the process $Pb \, p \rightarrow Pb \otimes V \otimes \,jet + X$, with $V = \rho, \, J/\Psi$ and $\otimes$ representing a rapidity gap in the final state, are estimated considering the non-forward solution of the BFKL equation at high energy and large -- $t$. A comparison with the predictions obtained at the Born level also is presented. We predict a large enhancement of the cross sections associated to the BFKL dynamics in the kinematical range probed by the LHCb Collaboration. Moreover, our results indicate that the experimental identification can be feasible at the LHC and that this process can be used to probe the BFKL dynamics.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. Improved version to be published in Physics Letters B. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:0911.563

Probing the gluon density of the proton in the exclusive photoproduction of vector mesons at the LHC: A phenomenological analysis

The current uncertainty on the gluon density extracted from the global parton analysis is large in the kinematical range of small values of the Bjorken - $x$ variable and low values of the hard scale $Q^2$. An alternative to reduces this uncertainty is the analysis of the exclusive vector meson photoproduction in photon - hadron and hadron - hadron collisions. This process offers a unique opportunity to constrain the gluon density of the proton, since its cross section is proportional to the gluon density squared. In this paper we consider current parametrizations for the gluon distribution and estimate the exclusive vector meson photoproduction cross section at HERA and LHC using the leading logarithmic formalism. We perform a fit of the normalization of the $\gamma h$ cross section and the value of the hard scale for the process and demonstrate that the current LHCb experimental data are better described by models that assume a slow increasing of the gluon distribution at small - $x$ and low $Q^2$.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, 1 table. Version published in European Physical Journal

Meson production in two-photon interactions at energies available at CERN Large Hadron Collider

The meson production cross sections are estimated considering photon-photon interactions in hadron - hadron collisions at CERN LHC energies. We consider a large number of mesons with photon-photon partial decay width well constrained by the experiment and some mesons which are currently considered as hadronic molecule and glueball candidates. Our results demonstrate that the experimental analysis of these states is feasible at CERN - LHC.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, 4 tables. Version published in Physical Review