Vector meson photoproduction on the nucleus and the extraction of the nuclear suppression factor using asymmetric beams

Ronan McNulty; Wolfgang Schafer

Vector meson photoproduction on the nucleus and the extraction of the nuclear suppression factor using asymmetric beams

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology 2026-07-05 v1

Authors: Ronan McNulty , Wolfgang Schafer

Abstract

The cross-section for photoproduction of a vector meson on a nucleus is usually determined in nucleus-nucleus collisions, which introduces a two-fold ambiguity as to which nucleus emitted the photon. This can be resolved in asymmetric collisions of protons and nuclei, where the ratio of photoproduction cross-sections on the proton and nucleus directly measures the nuclear suppression factor with minimal model dependence. The feasibilty of using existing and future proton-lead collisions at the LHC is evaluated.

Keywords

vector meson photoproduction nuclear suppression factor asymmetric collisions proton-lead collisions LHC

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.04228,
  title  = {Vector meson photoproduction on the nucleus and the extraction of the nuclear suppression factor using asymmetric beams},
  author = {Ronan McNulty and Wolfgang Schafer},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.04228},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

12 pages, 4 figures