Probing fluctuating protons using forward neutrons in soft and hard inelastic proton-nucleus scattering
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| _version_ | 1866908515952492544 |
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| author | Alvioli, M. Guzey, V. Strikman, M. |
| author_facet | Alvioli, M. Guzey, V. Strikman, M. |
| contents | We present a model for the distribution of the number of forward neutrons emitted in soft (minimum bias) and hard inelastic proton-nucleus ($pA$) scattering at the LHC. It is based on the Gribov-Glauber model for the distribution over the number of inelastic collisions (wounded nucleons) combined with a parametrization of cross section (color) fluctuations in the projectile proton, which depend on the parton momentum fraction $x_p$, and the assumption of independent neutron emissions. We observe that while the effect of soft color fluctuations is modest, a reduction of the interaction strength with increasing $x_p$ provides the dominant effect. It allows us to qualitatively describe the trend of the ATLAS data on the ZDC energy spectra of forward neutrons emitted in dijet production in inelastic $pA$ scattering at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=8.16$ TeV. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_07514 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Probing fluctuating protons using forward neutrons in soft and hard inelastic proton-nucleus scattering Alvioli, M. Guzey, V. Strikman, M. High Energy Physics - Phenomenology High Energy Physics - Experiment Nuclear Experiment We present a model for the distribution of the number of forward neutrons emitted in soft (minimum bias) and hard inelastic proton-nucleus ($pA$) scattering at the LHC. It is based on the Gribov-Glauber model for the distribution over the number of inelastic collisions (wounded nucleons) combined with a parametrization of cross section (color) fluctuations in the projectile proton, which depend on the parton momentum fraction $x_p$, and the assumption of independent neutron emissions. We observe that while the effect of soft color fluctuations is modest, a reduction of the interaction strength with increasing $x_p$ provides the dominant effect. It allows us to qualitatively describe the trend of the ATLAS data on the ZDC energy spectra of forward neutrons emitted in dijet production in inelastic $pA$ scattering at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=8.16$ TeV. |
| title | Probing fluctuating protons using forward neutrons in soft and hard inelastic proton-nucleus scattering |
| topic | High Energy Physics - Phenomenology High Energy Physics - Experiment Nuclear Experiment |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.07514 |