Momentum Dependence of Near-Threshold J/ψ Photoproduction off Nuclei

Abstract

The photoproduction of J/ψ mesons off nuclei at the energies of 8 and 11 GeV, which are close to the threshold for their production on a free nucleon, is considered on the basis of the first-collisionmodel relying on the nuclear spectral function and including incoherent processes of charmonium production in photon–nucleon collisions. The model takes into account the absorption of final J/ψ mesons, the binding of target nucleons, and their Fermi motion, as well as the effect of the scalar J/ψ–nucleus potential (or the inmedium shift of the J/ψ-meson mass) on these processes. Under various assumptions on the magnitude of this shift, the momentum dependences of various observables, such as the relative transparency of carbon and gold nuclei and the J/ψ-meson yields, are calculated for meson production on these nuclei. The observables in question include the relative transparencies of these nuclei to J/ψ mesons and the absolute and relativemeson yields from them. It is shown that, at the energy of 11 GeV, which is above the threshold, the first observable is virtually independent of the in-medium change in the J/ψ-meson mass. At the same time, it is moderately sensitive to this change at the subthreshold energy of 8 GeV. On the other hand, it is shown that, at these photon energies, the absolute and relative values of the differential cross sections, especially for the the heavy nucleus of ¹⁹⁷ Au, in the momentum range of 4–6 GeV/с are highly sensitive to the in-medium change in the J/ψ-meson mass. Therefore, the present calculations can be used to determine the unknown shift of the J/ψ-meson mass in nuclei by means of comparing their results with data expected from experiments in Hall C at the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF, USA) upgraded to the energy of 12 GeV.