Monte Carlo study of particle production in diffractive proton–proton collisions at $$\sqrt{s} = 13$$ s = 13 TeV with the very forward detector combined with central information

Abstract

Abstract Very forward (VF) detectors in hadron colliders, having unique sensitivity to diffractive processes, can be a powerful tool for studying diffractive dissociation by combining them with central detectors. Several Monte Carlo simulation samples in p–p collisions at $$\sqrt{s} = 13$$ s = 13 TeV were analyzed, and different nondiffractive and diffractive contributions were clarified through differential cross sections of forward neutral particles. Diffraction selection criteria in the VF-triggered-event samples were determined by using the central track information. The corresponding selection applicable in real experiments has $$\approx $$ ≈ 100% purity and 30–70% efficiency. Consequently, the central information enables classification of the forward productions into diffraction and nondiffraction categories; in particular, most of the surviving events from the selection belong to low-mass diffraction events at $$\log _{10}(\xi _{x}) < -5.5$$ log 10 ( ξ x ) < - 5.5 . Therefore, the combined method can uniquely access the low-mass diffraction regime experimentally.

Keywords

• Large Hadron Collider
• Monte Carlo
• Inelastic Cross Section
• Central Detector
• Diffractive Process