Cross section and heavy quark composition of γ+μ events produced in pp¯ collisions

Le résumé fourni par la source

We present a measurement of the cross section and the first measurement of the heavy flavor content of associated direct photon + muon events produced in hadronic collisions. These measurements come from a sample of $1.8 \mathrm{TeV}$ $p\overline{p}$ collisions recorded with the Collider Detector at Fermilab. Quantum chromodynamics (QCD) predicts that these events are primarily due to the Compton scattering process $c\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{g}c\ensuremath{\gamma},$ with the final-state charm quark producing a muon. The cross section for events with a photon transverse momentum between 12 and $40 \mathrm{GeV}/c$ is measured to be $46.8\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}6.3\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}7.5 \mathrm{pb},$ which is two standard deviations below the most recent theoretical calculation. A significant fraction of the events in the sample contain a final-state bottom quark. The ratio of charm to bottom production is measured to be $2.4\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1.2,$ in good agreement with QCD models.

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