Forward trijet production in proton–nucleus collisions

Edmond Iancu (1) , Yair Mulian (1)

1 IPHT - Institut de Physique Théorique - UMR CNRS 3681

Using the formalism of the light-cone wave function in perturbative QCD together with the hybrid factorization, we compute the cross-section for three particle production at forward rapidities in proton–nucleus collisions. We focus on the quark channel, in which the three produced partons — a quark accompanied by a gluon pair, or two quarks plus one antiquark — are all generated via two successive splittings starting with a quark that was originally collinear with the proton. The three partons are put on-shell by their scattering off the nuclear target, described as a Lorentz-contracted “shockwave”. The three-parton component of the quark light-cone wave function that we compute on this occasion is also an ingredient for other interesting calculations, like the next-to-leading order correction to the cross-section for the production of a pair of jets.

Mots clés: Color glass condensate; Proton–nucleus collisions; Multiparticle production; wave function: light cone; nucleus: target; quantum chromodynamics: perturbation theory; higher-order: 1; p nucleus: scattering; scattering: small-angle; factorization; splitting; collinear; quark; antiquark; rapidity; gluon; jet: multiple production

Domaines: Physique des Hautes Energies - Phénoménologie [hep-ph]; Physique Nucléaire Théorique [nucl-th]

Edmond Iancu, Yair Mulian. Forward trijet production in proton–nucleus collisions. Nucl.Phys.A, 2019, 985, pp.66-127. ⟨10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2019.02.003⟩. ⟨hal-01886134⟩