Paper detail

Measurement of exclusive production of scalar $χ_{c0}$ meson in proton-(anti)proton collisions via $χ_{c0} \to π^{+}π^{-}$ decay

We consider a measurement of exclusive production of scalar $χ_{c}(0^{++})$ meson in the proton-proton collisions at LHC and RHIC and in the proton-antiproton collisions at the Tevatron via $χ_{c0} \to π^{+}π^{-}$ decay. The corresponding amplitude for exclusive double-diffractive $χ_{c0}$ meson production was obtained within the $k_{t}$-factorization approach including virtualities of active gluons and the corresponding cross section is calculated with unintegrated gluon distribution functions (UGDFs) known from the literature. The four-body $p p \to p p π^+ π^-$ reaction constitutes an irreducible background to the exclusive $χ_{c0}$ meson production. We calculate several differential distributions for $pp(\bar{p}) \to pp(\bar{p})χ_{c0}$ process including absorptive corrections. The influence of kinematical cuts on the signal-to-background ratio is investigated. Corresponding experimental consequences are discussed.