S-Wave and P-Wave $B_c$ Meson Production at Hadron Colliders by Heavy Quark Fragmentation

Abstract

We compute model-independently the production rates and transverse momentum spectra for the $B_c$ mesons in various spin-orbital states ($n{}^1{S}_0$, $n{}^3{S}_1$, $n{}^1{P}_1$, and $n{}^3{P}_J(J=0,1,2)$ ) at hadron colliders via the direct fragmentation of the bottom antiquark and via the Altarelli-Parisi-induced gluon fragmentation. Since all the radially and orbitally excited states below the $BD$ flavor threshold will decay, either electromagnetically, hadronically, or a combination of both, into the pseudoscalar ground state $1{}^1{S}_0$, they all contribute significantly to the inclusive $B_c$ meson production.

Comments: (Presented at the DPF94 meeting, Albuquerque, New Mexico, August 1994), LaTeX with world_sci.sty, 4 pages (figures not included), Report # NUHEP-TH-94-20