We report results from Fermilab experiment E769 on the differential cross sections of D*± charm vector mesons with respect to Feynman-x (xF) and transverse momentum (PT), and on the atomic mass dependence of the production. The D* mesons were produced by a 250 GeV π beam on a target of Be, Al, Cu, and W foils. The dσdxF distribution is fit by the form ((1−xF)n) with n=3.5±0.3±0.1, the dσdPT2 distribution by exp(−b×PT2) with b=0.70±0.07±0.04 GeV−2, and the cross section A dependence by Aα with α=1.00±0.07±0.02. These results are compared to the equivalent parameters for the production of pseudoscalar D0 and D± charm mesons.
Data are in arbitrary units and are the weighted averages bin-by-bin for the 3 D0 modes KPI, K3PI and KPIPI0.
Data are in arbitrary units and are the weighted averages bin-by-bin for the 3 modes KPI, K3PI and KPIPI0.
Results of fit to DSIG/DXL distribution of the form (1-XL)**POWER in the XL range 0.1 to 0.6.
We measure the differential cross sections with respect to Feynman x ( xF) and transverse momentum ( pT) for π, K, and p-induced charm meson production using fully reconstructed D+, D0, and Ds decays. The shapes of these cross sections are compared to the theoretical predictions for charm quark production of next-to-leading order perturbative QCD using modern parametrizations of the pion and nucleon parton distributions. We observe the differences expected in production induced by projectiles with different gluon distributions, harder distributions being indicated for mesons than for protons.
Additional systematic errors of 6 pct, 6 pct and 9 pct respectively for pi, K and p beams.
Additional systematic errors of 6 pct, 6 pct and 9 pct respectively for pi, K and p beams.
Result of fitting DSIG/dXL spectra with form (1-XL)**POWER.