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Perspectives on heavy-quarkonium production at the LHC

J. P. Lansberg, A. Rakotozafindrabe, P. Artoisenet, D. Blaschke, J. Cugnon, D. d'Enterria, A. C. Kraan, F. Maltoni, D. Prorok, H. Satz

TL;DR

With the LHC approaching, this round-table synthesis surveys the status and prospects of heavy-quarkonium production in pp and AA collisions. It maps experimental capabilities across ALICE, ATLAS, CMS, and LHCb, reviews open questions in production mechanisms and CNM effects, and highlights theoretical advances including QCD corrections and automated NRQCD amplitude generation. The discussion emphasizes bottomonium as a cleaner QGP probe and showcases new observables—hadronic activity, associated production, and exclusive photoproduction—that can sharpen discrimination between models. Overall, while substantial progress has been made, a coherent, quantitative understanding of quarkonium production and suppression in hot and cold nuclear matter remains a central challenge for the field.

Abstract

We summarise the perspectives on heavy-quarkonium production at the LHC, both for proton-proton and heavy-ion runs, as emanating from the round table held at the HLPW 2008 Conference. The main topics are: present experimental and theoretical knowledge, experimental capabilities, open questions, recent theoretical advances and potentialities linked to some new observables.

Perspectives on heavy-quarkonium production at the LHC

TL;DR

With the LHC approaching, this round-table synthesis surveys the status and prospects of heavy-quarkonium production in pp and AA collisions. It maps experimental capabilities across ALICE, ATLAS, CMS, and LHCb, reviews open questions in production mechanisms and CNM effects, and highlights theoretical advances including QCD corrections and automated NRQCD amplitude generation. The discussion emphasizes bottomonium as a cleaner QGP probe and showcases new observables—hadronic activity, associated production, and exclusive photoproduction—that can sharpen discrimination between models. Overall, while substantial progress has been made, a coherent, quantitative understanding of quarkonium production and suppression in hot and cold nuclear matter remains a central challenge for the field.

Abstract

We summarise the perspectives on heavy-quarkonium production at the LHC, both for proton-proton and heavy-ion runs, as emanating from the round table held at the HLPW 2008 Conference. The main topics are: present experimental and theoretical knowledge, experimental capabilities, open questions, recent theoretical advances and potentialities linked to some new observables.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 23 sections, 9 equations, 8 figures, 1 table.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Experimental capabilities
  3. ALICE (by Andry M. Rakotozafindrabe)
  4. ATLAS and CMS (by Aafke C. Kraan and David d'Enterria)
  5. LHCb (by David d'Enterria)
  6. Open issues
  7. pp collisions (by Andry M. Rakotozafindrabe and J.P. Lansberg)
  8. pA collisions (by Andry M. Rakotozafindrabe)
  9. Initial-state effects
  10. Final-state effects
  11. The $J/\psi$ puzzle
  12. AA collisions (by Joseph Cugnon)
  13. Recent theoretical advances
  14. QCD corrections (by Jean-Philippe Lansberg)
  15. Automated generation of quarkonium amplitudes in NRQCD (by Pierre Artoisenet)
  16. ...and 8 more sections

Figures (8)

  • Figure 1: Variable $d P_{T}^{around}(R)/d\Omega_R$ at reconstruction level for $J/\psi$ (left) and $\Upsilon(1S)$ (right) events.
  • Figure 2: Differential cross section for $pp \to J/\psi +c \bar{c}$ as function of the $J/\psi$ transverse momentum $P_T$ at the Tevatron ($\sqrt{s}=1.96$ TeV).
  • Figure 3: Polarisation of an $\Upsilon$ produced in association with a $b\bar{b}$ pair at the Tevatron for $\sqrt{s}=1.96$ TeV for $|y|\leq 0.6$.
  • Figure 4: Schematic diagram for exclusive diffractive quarkonium photoproduction in $\gamma A$, $\gamma p$ collisions collisions.
  • Figure 5: Left: Invariant mass distribution of $\mu^+\mu^-$ pairs measured in exclusive p$\bar{\hbox{p}}$ collisions by CDF at 1.96 TeV pinfold08. Right: Preliminary cross-section of coherent $J/\psi$ production at $y$ = 0 in UPC Au-Au at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}$ = 200 GeV dde_qm05 compared to various theoretical calculations starlightstrikman05machado07kopeliovich07.
  • ...and 3 more figures