Charmed particles production in pA-interactions at 70 GeV

Abstract

The results of the SERP-E-184 experiment at the U-70 accelerator (IHEP, Protvino) are presented. Interactions of the 70 GeV proton beam with carbon, silicon and lead targets were studied to detect decays of charmed D0, D̄0, D+, D− mesons and Λ+c baryon near their production threshold. Measurements of lifetimes and masses have shown a good agreement with PDG data. The inclusive cross sections of charm production and their A-dependencies have been obtained. The yields of these particles are compared with the theoretical predictions and the data of other experiments. The measured cross section of the total open charm production σ(cc̄) = 7.1 ± 2.3(stat) ± 1.4(syst) μb/nucleon at the collision c.m. energy √s = 11.8 GeV is well above the QCD model predictions. The contributions of different kinds of charmed particles to the total cross section of the open charm production in proton-nucleus interactions vary with energy.