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Measurement of the cross-section ratio $σ(χ_{c2})/σ(χ_{c1})$ for prompt $χ_c$ production at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV

The prompt production of the charmonium $χ_{c1}$ and $χ_{c2}$ mesons has been studied in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV. The $χ_c$ mesons are identified through their decays $χ_c\to J/ψ\,γ$ with $J/ψ\to μ^+ μ^-$ using 36 $\mathrm{pb^{-1}}$ of data collected by the LHCb detector in 2010. The ratio of the prompt production cross-sections for the two $χ_c$ spin states, $σ(χ_{c2})/σ(χ_{c1})$, has been determined as a function of the $J/ψ$ transverse momentum, $p_{\mathrm{T}}^{J/ψ}$, in the range from 2 to 15 GeV/$c$. The results are in agreement with the next-to-leading order non-relativistic QCD model at high $p_{\mathrm{T}}^{J/ψ}$ and lie consistently above the pure leading-order colour singlet prediction.