Inclusive heavy meson photoproduction in p P b and P b P b collisions

The inclusive photoproduction of heavy mesons in ultraperipheral <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <a:mi>p</a:mi> <a:mi>P</a:mi> <a:mi>b</a:mi> </a:math> and <c:math xmlns:c="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <c:mi>P</c:mi> <c:mi>b</c:mi> <c:mi>P</c:mi> <c:mi>b</c:mi> </c:math> collisions at the LHC energies is investigated considering the color-dipole <e:math xmlns:e="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <e:mi>S</e:mi> </e:math> -matrix formalism and assuming distinct models for the unintegrated gluon distribution, based on different assumptions for the description of the QCD dynamics. In particular, predictions for the <g:math xmlns:g="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <g:msup> <g:mi>B</g:mi> <g:mn>0</g:mn> </g:msup> </g:math> -meson photoproduction are presented here for the first time. The study of the <i:math xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <i:msup> <i:mi>D</i:mi> <i:mn>0</i:mn> </i:msup> </i:math> -meson photoproduction is revisited by estimating the impact of the treatment of the heavy charm fragmentation on the predictions and extended for <k:math xmlns:k="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <k:mi>p</k:mi> <k:mi>P</k:mi> <k:mi>b</k:mi> </k:math> collisions. Moreover, the contribution associated with the <m:math xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <m:mi>b</m:mi> <m:mo stretchy="false">→</m:mo> <m:msup> <m:mi>D</m:mi> <m:mn>0</m:mn> </m:msup> </m:math> transition is estimated. Our results indicate that a future experimental analysis of the heavy meson photoproduction will provide important constraints on the description of the hadronic structure at high energies.