Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: We provide a first quantitative indication that the wave function of the proton contains unequal distributions of charm quarks and antiquarks, i.e., a nonvanishing intrinsic valence charm distribution. A significant nonvanishing valence component cannot be perturbatively generated; hence, our results reinforce previous evidence that the proton contains an intrinsic (i.e., not radiatively generated) charm quark component. We establish our result through a determination of the parton distribution functions of charm quarks and antiquarks in the proton. We propose two novel experimental probes of this intrinsic charm valence component: D -meson asymmetries in Z+c -jet production at the LHCb experiment and flavor-tagged structure functions at the Electron-Ion Collider. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
Institutions: University of Edinburgh, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, University of Milan, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Milano, European Organization for Nuclear Research, National Institute for Subatomic Physics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, University of Helsinki, Helsinki Institute of Physics, University of Jyväskylä, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Torino, University of Turin
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4396561908