Factorization breaking in high-transverse-momentum charged-hadron production at the Tevatron?
We compare the transverse-momentum (pT) distribution of inclusive light-charged-particle production measured by the CDF Collaboration at the Fermilab Tevatron with the theoretical prediction evaluated at next-to-leading order in quantum chromodynamics using fragmentation functions recently determined through a global data fit. While in the lower pT range the data agree with the prediction within the theoretical error or slightly undershoot it, they significantly exceed it in the upper pT range, by several orders of magnitude at the largest values of pT, potentially challenging the factorization theorem.
Albino
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II. Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany.
Kniehl
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Kramer
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