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Global Bayesian analysis of J/ψ photoproduction on proton and lead targets

Heikki Mäntysaari1,2, Hendrik Roch3, Farid Salazar4,5,6,7, Björn Schenke6, Chun Shen3, and Wenbin Zhao8,9

Phys. Rev. D 113, 014038 – Published 29 January, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/pcmz-dyz1

Abstract

We perform a global Bayesian analysis of diffractive J/ψ production in γ+p and γ+Pb collisions using a color glass condensate (CGC) based calculation framework. As past calculations have shown that CGC-based models typically overpredict the J/ψ production in γ+Pb collisions at high center of mass energy, we address the question of whether it is possible to describe coherent and incoherent diffractive J/ψ data from γ+p collisions at Hadron–Electron Ring Accelerator (HERA) and the LHC, and from γ+Pb collisions at the LHC simultaneously. Our results indicate that a simultaneous description of γ+p and γ+Pb data is challenging, with results improving when an overall K-factor—scaling γ+p and γ+Pb cross sections to absorb model uncertainties—is introduced.

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