Exclusive dilepton production in photon-induced interactions at RHIC

Abstract

Abstract The exclusive dilepton photoproduction in pp and pAu collisions at RHIC is investigated considering the contribution of the Bethe–Heitler (BH) and the timelike Compton scattering (TCS) processes. The TCS amplitude is estimated at next-to-leading-order of the strong running coupling constant $$\alpha _s$$ α s and assuming the Goloskokov–Kroll model for the quark and gluon generalized parton distributions. The TCS differential cross section is estimated as well the contribution associated to the interference between the TCS and BH amplitudes. Predictions for the TCS, BH and interference contributions are presented considering the kinematical range covered by the RHIC detectors.