Inclusive heavy meson photoproduction in $pPb$ and $PbPb$ collisions

Abstract

The inclusive photoproduction of heavy mesons in ultraperipheral $pPb$ and $PbPb$ collisions at the LHC energies is investigated considering the color dipole $S$-matrix formalism and assuming distinct models for the unintegrated gluon distribution, based on different assumptions for the description of the QCD dynamics. In particular, predictions for the $B^0$-meson photoproduction are presented here for the first time. The study of the $D^0$-meson photoproduction is revisited by estimating the impact of the treatment of the heavy charm fragmentation on the predictions and extended for $pPb$ collisions. Moreover, the contribution associated with the $b\to D^0$ transition is estimated. Our results indicate that a future experimental analysis of the heavy meson photoproduction will provide important constrains on the description of the hadronic structure at high energies.

Comments: 11 pages, 9 figures