Correlations among particles and jets produced with large transverse momenta

Abstract

We continue to investigate consequences of the assumption that the high transverse momentum particles seen in hadron-hadron collisions are produced by a single, hard, large-angle elastic scattering of quarks; one from the target and one from the beam. A large p⊥ event consists of four jets (collection of hadrons moving in roughly the same direction). The two outgoing quarks fragment into two jets of hadrons with roughly equal and opposite transverse momentum. The other two jets have small transverse momentum and result from the break up of the beam and target hadrons. We compare the model with existing data on the correlations among particles on the same and opposite (away) side of a large p⊥ trigger. If we allow the quarks within the initial hadrons to have a large mean transverse momentum, 〈k⊥〉_(h→q), then good agreement with data is found. We have taken 〈k⊥〉_(h→q) = 500 MeV; however, even larger values are suggested by certain ISR experiments. A large cross section for producing a jet (quark) is predicted. For instance, σ(pp → jet + X)/σ(pp → π^0 + X) = 370 at x⊥ = 0.4 and θ_(c.m.) = 90°. This is consistent with a recent FNAL jet trigger experiment. Predictions for future FNAL and ISR experiments are made.

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