Exclusive vector meson production and small-x evolution

Abstract

The process of exclusive elastic vector meson production in deep inelastic scattering is investigated within the dipole model framework supplemented by the small $x$ evolution. The dipole-proton amplitude is obtained from the nonlinear Balitsky-Kovchegov evolution equation with impact parameter dependence. This dipole amplitude is used to compute the differential cross section for exclusive production of J/\Psi, \phi, and \rho, vector mesons. These numerical calculations are compared with the wide range of experimental data from HERA. Good agreement between the experimental data and the calculations is found.

Comments: 21 pages, 13 figures