J/ψ polarization at the Tevatron and the LHC: nonrelativistic-QCD factorization at the crossroads.
We study the polarization observables of J/ψ hadroproduction at next-to-leading order within the factorization formalism of nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics. We complete the present knowledge of the relativistic corrections by also providing the contribution due to the intermediate (3)P(J)([8]) color-octet states at this order, which turns out to be quite significant. Exploiting the color-octet long-distance matrix elements previously extracted through a global fit to experimental data of unpolarized J/ψ production, we provide theoretical predictions in the helicity and Collins-Soper frames and compare them with data taken by CDF at Fermilab Tevatron I and II and by ALICE at CERN LHC. The notorious CDF J/ψ polarization anomaly familiar from leading-order analyses persists at the quantum level, while the situation looks promising for the LHC, which is bound to bring final clarification.
II. Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
Mathias
M
Butenschoen
Bernd A
BA
Kniehl