Search

We derive the discovery potential of a leptophilic Z', and a Z' rising from a $SU(3) \times SU(3)_L \times U(1)_N$ symmetry at the Compact Linear Collider (CLIC), which is planned to host $e^+e^-$ collisions with 3 TeV center-of-mass energy. We perform an optimized selection cut strategy on the transverse momentum, pseudorapidity, and invariant mass of the dileptons in order to enhance the collider sensitivity. We find that CLIC can potentially reach a $5\sigma$ signal of a $1-3$~TeV leptophilic Z' with less than $1fb^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity. As for the Z' belonging to a 3-3-1 symmetry, CLIC will offer a complementary probe with the potential to impose $M_{Z^\prime} > 3$~TeV with $\mathcal{L}=2fb^{-1}$., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures

The production of fully-heavy tetraquark states in proton-proton ($pp$) and proton-nucleus ($pA$) collisions at the center-of-mass energies of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and at the Future Circular Collider (FCC) is investigated considering that these states are produced through the double parton scattering mechanism. We estimate the cross sections for the $T_{4c}$, $T_{4b}$ and $T_{2b2c}$ states and present predictions for $pp$, $pCa$ and $pPb$ collisions considering the rapidity ranges covered by central and forward detectors. We demonstrate that the cross sections for $pA$ collisions are enhanced in comparison to the $pp$ predictions scaled by the atomic number. Moreover, our results indicate that a search of these exotic states is, in principle, feasible in the future runs of the LHC and FCC., Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables

Leading $\Lambda$ (LL) production in $ep$ collisions at high energies is investigated using the color dipole formalism and taking into account the nonlinear QCD effects. In particular, the impact of the absorptive effects on the LL spectra are estimated considering the kinematical range that will be probed by the Electron Ion Collider (EIC) and by the Large Hadron electron Collider (LHeC). Our results indicate that the LL spectrum is strongly suppressed at small photon virtualities. These results suggest that absorptive effects are not negligible and should be taken into account in order to extract the kaon structure function from data on leading $\Lambda$ production., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2011.09515

The study of exclusive processes in photon - induced interactions allow us to probe the generalized parton distributions (GPDs), which provide information about the 3 dimensional description of the quark and gluon content of hadrons. In this paper we investigate the timelike Compton scattering (TCS) in ultraperipheral $pPb$ collisions at the LHC. Such process is characterized by the exclusive dilepton production through the subprocess $\gamma p \rightarrow \gamma^*p \rightarrow l^+ l^- p$, with the real photon in the initial state being emitted by the nucleus. Assuming a given model for the GPDs, the TCS differential cross section is estimated as well the contribution associated to the interference between the TCS and Bethe - Heitler (BH) amplitudes. Predictions for the TCS, BH and interference contributions are presented considering the kinematical range covered by the LHC detectors.

In this paper, it is proved that the teleparallel energy-momentum generalizes that of the ADM formalism. In doing so, it is shown that the teleparallel $4$-momentum can be made to coincide with that of the ADM approach whenever the ADM $4$-momentum is applicable. The only assumptions are the time gauge for the teleparallel frame and the well-known restrictions for the coordinate system used in the calculation of the ADM $4$-momentum. Then, examples where the ADM formalism fails to give consist results, but the teleparallel approach does not, are given. The advantages of the teleparallel stress-energy tensor (density) over the pseudo-tensor of Landau-Lifshitz are exhibited. Finally, the difficulties in identifying the gravitational angular momentum density is discussed; it is shown that the spatial part of the proposed angular momentum density $M^{ab}$ vanishes when the teleparallel frame satisfies the time gauge condition., Comment: 21 pages

In this paper we investigate the photoproduction of QED bound states in proton -- proton, proton -- nucleus and nucleus -- nucleus collisions at RHIC, LHC and FCC energies considering an accurate treatment of the absorptive corrections and for the nuclear form factor. The total cross sections for the production of singlet and triplet $(l^+ l^-)$ states, with $l = e,\, \mu, \, \tau$, are estimated and a detailed analysis of the photoproduction of singlet QED bound states is performed considering the rapidity ranges covered by central and forward detectors. The impact of the Coulomb corrections on the parapositronium production in heavy ion collisions is estimated. We predict a large number of events associated to the production of ($e^+ e^-$) and ($\mu^+ \mu^-$) states in hadronic collisions., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables

By assuming that ultra dense hybrid neutron stars are endowed with a distribution of electric charge, we study the corresponding twin star solutions and their properties resulting from a sharp first order transition from confined hadronic to a deconfined quark phase. Two distinct quark matter equations of state with increasing stiffness are considered and the values for the maximum gravitational masses of the hadronic and hybrid twin configurations are obtained for different values of the total electric charge. Interestingly, our calculations indicate that sharp transitions make charged twin hybrid stars more massive than their neutral counterparts, and that the {$\SI{2}{M_{\odot}}$ constraint from PSR J0740+6620} is surpassed for standard values of electric charge and can be considered stable only satisfying $\partial M/\partial \epsilon_0 > 0$. In particular, our charged stellar models reach masses even higher than the unknown compact object measured in the GW190814 event., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables. Improved version to be published in EPJC

This report describes the physics case, the resulting detector requirements, and the evolving detector concepts for the experimental program at the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC). The EIC will be a powerful new high-luminosity facility in the United States with the capability to collide high-energy electron beams with high-energy proton and ion beams, providing access to those regions in the nucleon and nuclei where their structure is dominated by gluons. Moreover, polarized beams in the EIC will give unprecedented access to the spatial and spin structure of the proton, neutron, and light ions. The studies leading to this document were commissioned and organized by the EIC User Group with the objective of advancing the state and detail of the physics program and developing detector concepts that meet the emerging requirements in preparation for the realization of the EIC. The effort aims to provide the basis for further development of concepts for experimental equipment best suited for the science needs, including the importance of two complementary detectors and interaction regions. This report consists of three volumes. Volume I is an executive summary of our findings and developed concepts. In Volume II we describe studies of a wide range of physics measurements and the emerging requirements on detector acceptance and performance. Volume III discusses general-purpose detector concepts and the underlying technologies to meet the physics requirements. These considerations will form the basis for a world-class experimental program that aims to increase our understanding of the fundamental structure of all visible matter, Comment: 902 pages, 415 authors, 151 institutions

The production of axionlike particles (ALPs) with small masses in ultraperipheral $Pb - p$ and $Pb - Pb$ collisions at the LHC is investigated. The cross section and kinematical distributions associated to the diphoton final state produced in the $\gamma \gamma \rightarrow a \rightarrow \gamma \gamma$ subprocesses are estimated considering a realistic set of kinematical cuts. A detailed analysis of the backgrounds is performed and the expected sensitivity to the ALP production is derived. Our results demonstrate that a future experimental analysis of the exclusive diphoton production for the forward rapidities probed by the LHCb detector can improve the existing exclusion limits on the ALP - photon coupling in the mass range 2 GeV $\le m_a \le$ 5 GeV., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables

Particle production in two-photon interactions at hadronic collisions is becoming increasingly relevant in the LHC physics programme as a way to improve our understanding of the Standard Model and search for signals of New Physics. A key ingredient for the study of these interactions in $pp$ collisions is the description of the photon content of the proton, which allow us to derive predictions for the cross sections associated to events where occur the proton dissociation (non - exclusive processes) and for those where both incident protons remain intact (exclusive processes). In this paper, a detailed comparison of the different models for the elastic and inelastic photon distributions found in the literature is presented and the current theoretical uncertainty is estimated. The impact on the invariant mass distribution for the dimuon production is analyzed. Moreover, the relative contribution of non - exclusive events is estimated and its dependence on the invariant mass of the pair is presented. We demonstrate that the predictions for production of pairs with large invariant mass is strongly dependent on the model assumed to describe the elastic and inelastic photon distributions and that the ratio between non - exclusive and exclusive cross sections present a mild energy dependence. Finally, our results indicate that a future experimental analysis of the non - exclusive events will be useful to constrain the photon content of proton., Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures

Leading neutron (LN) production in $ep$ collisions at high energies is investigated using the color dipole formalism and taking into account saturation effects. We update the treatment of absorptive effects and estimate the impact of these effects on LN spectra in the kinematical range that will be probed by the Electron Ion Collider (EIC) and by the Large Hadron electron Collider (LHeC). We demonstrate that Feynman scaling, associated to saturation, is not violated by the inclusion of absorptive effects. Moreover, our results indicate that the LN spectrum is strongly suppressed at small photon virtualities. These results suggest that absorptive effects cannot be disregarded in future measurements of the $\gamma \pi$ cross section to be extracted from data on leading neutron production., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures

The impact of nonlinear effects in the diffractive observables that will be measured in future electron-ion collisions is investigated. We present, for the first time, the predictions for the diffractive structure function and reduced cross sections derived using the solution to the Balitsky--Kovchegov equation with the collinearly-improved kernel and including the impact-parameter dependence. We demonstrate that the contribution of the diffractive events is enhanced in nuclear collisions and that the study of the ratio between the nuclear and proton predictions will be useful to discriminate among different models of the dipole-target scattering amplitude and, consequently, will allow us to constrain the description of QCD dynamics in parton densities., Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures

The Large Hadron electron Collider (LHeC) is designed to move the field of deep inelastic scattering (DIS) to the energy and intensity frontier of particle physics. Exploiting energy recovery technology, it collides a novel, intense electron beam with a proton or ion beam from the High Luminosity--Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC). The accelerator and interaction region are designed for concurrent electron-proton and proton-proton operation. This report represents an update of the Conceptual Design Report (CDR) of the LHeC, published in 2012. It comprises new results on parton structure of the proton and heavier nuclei, QCD dynamics, electroweak and top-quark physics. It is shown how the LHeC will open a new chapter of nuclear particle physics in extending the accessible kinematic range in lepton-nucleus scattering by several orders of magnitude. Due to enhanced luminosity, large energy and the cleanliness of the hadronic final states, the LHeC has a strong Higgs physics programme and its own discovery potential for new physics. Building on the 2012 CDR, the report represents a detailed updated design of the energy recovery electron linac (ERL) including new lattice, magnet, superconducting radio frequency technology and further components. Challenges of energy recovery are described and the lower energy, high current, 3-turn ERL facility, PERLE at Orsay, is presented which uses the LHeC characteristics serving as a development facility for the design and operation of the LHeC. An updated detector design is presented corresponding to the acceptance, resolution and calibration goals which arise from the Higgs and parton density function physics programmes. The paper also presents novel results on the Future Circular Collider in electron-hadron mode, FCC-eh, which utilises the same ERL technology to further extend the reach of DIS to even higher centre-of-mass energies., Comment: 373 pages, many figures, to be published by J. Phys. G

In this letter we estimate the contribution of the double diffractive processes for the diphoton production in $pp$ collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The acceptance of the central and forward LHC detectors is taken into account and predictions for the invariant mass, rapidity and, transverse momentum distributions are presented. A comparison with the predictions for the Light -- by -- Light (LbL) scattering and exclusive diphoton production is performed. We demonstrate that the events associated to double diffractive processes can be separated and its study can be used to constrain the behavior of the diffractive parton distribution functions., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables. Improved version to be published in EPJC. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2002.03902

The exclusive production of axionlike particles (ALPs) by gluon -- induced interactions is investigated in this exploratory study considering $pp$ and $PbPb$ collisions for the energies of the next run of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Assuming the Duhram model, we estimate the associated cross sections for the rapidity ranges probed by central and forward detectors. A comparison with the predictions for the exclusive ALP production by photon -- induced interactions is presented. Our results indicate that the contribution of gluon -- induced interactions is nonnegligible and can become dominant in $pp$ collisions for small values of the ALP mass., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. Improved version to be published in Physics Letters B

The characteristics of the thermal radiation are investigated using a two - component model, with the hard component being described by the Color Glass Condensate formalism. The inclusive transverse momentum spectra of charged hadrons produced in proton - proton and proton - nucleus collisions at LHC energies and large - $p_T$ are estimated using the running coupling $k_T$ - factorization formula and the solution of the Balitsky - Kovchegov equation. Our results indicate that the thermal term is necessary to describe the experimental data and that the effective thermal temperature has an energy dependence similar to the saturation scale. We demonstrate that the enhancement of the thermal temperature in $pPb$ collisions is consistent with that predicted by the saturation scale., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, 1 table

In this letter we propose the search of dark photons in the decay of pions produced by $\gamma \gamma$ interactions in ultraperipheral $PbPb$ collisions. The cross section is estimated considering an accurate treatment for the absorptive corrections and for the nuclear form factor. Predictions for the event rates are presented considering the expected luminosities for the LHC, High -- Luminosity LHC and High -- Energy LHC as well as for the Future Circular Collider. Our results indicate that a future experimental analysis of the pion production in ultraperipheral heavy ion collisions can be useful to probe the dark photon production and constrain its properties., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures

The description of the heaviest neutron stars observed in Nature depends on the understanding of the physical concepts present in General Relativity and Quantum Chromodynamics. In this work, we review the basic concepts need to describe strange stars, constituted by up, down and strange quarks, which is one of the possible alternatives to describe the general properties of the most dense neutron stars. We will review the Bodmer-Witten-Terazawa hypothesis, which states that strange matter is absolutely stable in relation to ordinary nuclear matter, and discuss the basic properties that characterize strange stars. Our goal is to present the necessary concepts to understand this important theme of Astroparticles., Comment: 22 pages, 12 figures. Text in Portuguese. To be published in Revista Brasileira de Ensino de Fisica

The study of the general properties and stability of charm stars with a net electric charge is performed within the MIT bag model framework. We consider two different models for the electric charge distribution and demostrate that both imply stellar configurations with larger masses and that satisfy the equilibrium condition. The dynamical stability against radial oscillations is investigated. Our results demonstrate that the eigenfrequencies are modified by the presence of a net electric charge, but the instability, previously demonstrated for the electrically neutral case, is also present in charged charm stars., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures

The properties of electrically charged strange quark stars predicted by an interacting quark matter equation of state (EoS) based on cold and dense perturbative quantum chromodynamics (pQCD) are investigated. The stability of strange stars is analyzed considering different models for the electric charge distribution inside the star as well as for distinct values for the total electric charge. A comparison with the predictions derived using the MIT bag model is also presented. We show that the presence of a net electric charge inside strange stars implies in a larger maximum mass in comparison to their neutral counterparts. Moreover, we demonstrate that the pQCD EoS implies larger values for the maximum mass of charged strange stars, with very heavy charged stars being stable systems against radial oscillations. For an electric charge distribution given by $q(r) = \beta r^3$, the pQCD EoS implies unstable configurations for large values of the renormalization scale as well as for large values of $\beta$, in contrast to the MIT bag model predictions., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures. Improved version to be published in Physical Review D

The GlueX experiment at Jefferson Lab has been designed to study photoproduction reactions with a 9-GeV linearly polarized photon beam. The energy and arrival time of beam photons are tagged using a scintillator hodoscope and a scintillating fiber array. The photon flux is determined using a pair spectrometer, while the linear polarization of the photon beam is determined using a polarimeter based on triplet photoproduction. Charged-particle tracks from interactions in the central target are analyzed in a solenoidal field using a central straw-tube drift chamber and six packages of planar chambers with cathode strips and drift wires. Electromagnetic showers are reconstructed in a cylindrical scintillating fiber calorimeter inside the magnet and a lead-glass array downstream. Charged particle identification is achieved by measuring energy loss in the wire chambers and using the flight time of particles between the target and detectors outside the magnet. The signals from all detectors are recorded with flash ADCs and/or pipeline TDCs into memories allowing trigger decisions with a latency of 3.3 $\mu$s. The detector operates routinely at trigger rates of 40 kHz and data rates of 600 megabytes per second. We describe the photon beam, the GlueX detector components, electronics, data-acquisition and monitoring systems, and the performance of the experiment during the first three years of operation., Comment: Accepted by Nuclear Instruments and Methods A, 78 pages, 54 figures

The photon -- induced interactions, present in $ep$, $eA$, $pp$, $pA$, $AA$ and $e^+ e^-$ collisions, are expressed within the color dipole approach in terms of the photon wave function, which describes the transition of the photon into a quark -- antiquark color dipole. Such quantity is usually calculated using perturbation theory assuming that long distance corrections associated to strong interactions can be neglected. In this paper we investigate the impact of these nonperturbative QCD (npQCD) corrections to the description of the photon wave function for dipoles of large size in several observables measured at HERA, LEP and LHC. We assume a phenomenological ansatz for the treatment of these npQCD corrections and constrain the free parameters of our model using the experimental data for the photoproduction cross section. The predictions for the $\gamma \gamma$ cross section, exclusive $\rho$ production in $ep$ collisions and the rapidity distribution for the $\rho$ production in $PbPb$ collisions are compared with the data. We demonstrate that the inclusion of the nonperturbative QCD corrections improves the description of processes that are dominated by large dipoles., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures. Improved version to be published in European Physical Journal C

A phenomenological model for the description of the single and double diffractive excitation in $pp$ collisions at high energies is presented. Considering the Good -- Walker approach, we propose a model for the eigenstates of the scattering operator and for the treatment of the interaction between them, with the high energy behavior of the cross section driven by perturbative QCD. The behavior of the total, elastic, single and double diffractive cross sections are analyzed and predictions for the energies of Run 3 of the LHC and those of the Cosmic Rays experiments are derived. We demonstrate that the model describes the current data for the energy dependence of the cross sections. A comparison with the recent data for the $\rho$ parameter and the differential elastic cross section are also presented and shortcomings of the current model are discussed., Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, 1 table. Improved version published in Physical Review D

In this letter we present, for the first time, the results for the photoproduction of massive gauge bosons in proton -- proton, proton -- Lead and Lead -- Lead collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), High -- Energy LHC (HE -- LHC) and Future Circular Collider (FCC). Predictions for the rapidity distributions and total cross sections are presented. We predict a large number of events in the rapidity range probed by the LHC detectors, which implies that this process can be used to probe the photoproduction of massive gauge bosons as well to perform the search of Beyond Standard Model physics., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables

The production of axionlike particles (ALP) in ultraperipheral $PbPb$ collisions (UPHIC) is investigated considering the energies of the next run of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and of the future High Energy -- LHC (HE -- LHC) and Future Circular Collider (FCC). Assuming four different combinations for the ALP mass and coupling and the typical exclusivity cuts for central and forward detectors, we estimate the cross section and invariant mass, rapidity, transverse momentum and {acoplanarity} distributions associated to the diphoton final state produced in the $\gamma \gamma \rightarrow a \rightarrow \gamma \gamma$ subprocesses. A detailed analysis of the backgrounds is performed. We demonstrate that the backgrounds can be strongly reduced by the exclusivity cuts and that a forward detector, as the LHCb, is ideal to probe an ALP with small mass. Finally, our results indicate that a future experimental analysis of the diphoton final state in UPHIC can probe the existence and properties of axionlike particles., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2002.03902

In this paper we present a detailed analysis of the contribution of the Light -- by -- Light (LbL), Durham and double diffractive processes for the diphoton production in ultraperipheral $PbPb$ collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), High -- Energy LHC (HE -- LHC) and Future Circular Collider (FCC). The acceptance of the central and forward LHC detectors is taken into account and predictions for the invariant mass, rapidity, transverse momentum and acoplanarity distributions are presented. Our results indicate that the contribution of the Durham and double diffractive processes can be strongly suppressed by the exclusivity cuts, which will allow to perform a precise analysis of the LbL scattering, as well the search of beyond Standard Model physics in this final state., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables

The production of a quarkonium -- pair in exclusive and diffractive processes in $pp$ collisions at the LHC and FCC energies is investigated. We consider the $J/\Psi J/\Psi$ and $\Upsilon \Upsilon$ production in these processes and present predictions for the transverse momentum and rapidity distributions considering the kinematical ranges expected to be covered by central and forward detectors. Results for the cross sections are also presented. Our results indicate that the double $J/\Psi$ production is dominated by the exclusive process, while the double $\Upsilon$ production receive a large contribution of the diffractive process. The impact of the modelling of the gap survival factor on our predictions is discussed., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables

In this paper we investigate the production of pentaquark states in the photon -- proton interactions present in hadronic collisions at the RHIC and LHC. We consider two phenomenological models for the $J/\Psi$ photoproduction that consider the presence of the $P_c(4312)$, $P_c(4440)$ and $P_c(4457)$ resonances in the $s$ -- channel of the $\gamma p \rightarrow J/\Psi p$ reaction. The rapidity distribution is estimated for $pA$ collisions at the RHIC and LHC. Predictions for $pPb$, $Pb \, Ar$ and $Pb \,He$ fixed -- target collisions at the LHC are also presented. We demonstrate that the experimental analysis of the $J/\Psi$ photoproduction in fixed -- target collisions can provide complementary and independent checks on these states, and help to understand their underlying nature., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Improved version published in Physics Letters B

In this paper we investigate the production of a true muonium state, which is an atom consisting of a $\mu^+ \mu^-$ bound state, by $\gamma \gamma$ interactions in ultraperipheral $PbPb$ collisions considering an accurate treatment of the absorptive corrections and for the nuclear form factor. The rapidity distributions and cross sections are estimated considering the RHIC, LHC and FCC energies. Our results indicate that the experimental analysis can be useful to observe, for the first time, the true muonium state., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, 1 table. Improved version published in Physical Review C

In this paper we present a comprehensive analysis of the exclusive heavy quark photoproduction in $pp$, $pPb$ and $PbPb$ collisions at LHC and FCC energies using the color dipole formalism and taking into account of nonlinear corrections to the QCD dynamics. We estimate the rapidity distributions and cross sections for the charm and bottom production considering three phenomenological models for the dipole-proton scattering amplitude that are able to describe the $ep$ HERA data. Our results indicate that a future experimental analysis of this process is feasible, which will allow us to improve our understanding of the QCD dynamics., Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables. Improved version published in Nuclear Physics A

The particle production at very forward rapidities is expected to be sensitive to the non-linear effects in the QCD dynamics at high energies. In this paper we present, for the first time, the predictions of the Color Dipole formalism for the single inclusive jet photoproduction in $pp$ and $pPb$ collisions considering the very forward rapidities probed by the CMS-CASTOR calorimeter, which will be characterized by a jet in the rapidity range of $5.2 \le Y \le 6.6$, a rapidity gap in the rapidity range probed by the central CMS detector and one of the incident hadrons remaining intact in the final state. The transverse momentum distributions are estimated considering the more recent phenomenological models for the dipole-proton scattering amplitude, which are based on the Color Glass Condensate formalism and are able to describe the inclusive and exclusive $ep$ HERA data. Our results indicate that a future experimental analysis of this process is, in principle, feasible and useful to constrain the description of the QCD dynamics at high energies., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1711.04497

One of the more promising observables to probe the high energy regime of the QCD dynamics in the future Electron-Ion Colliders (EIC) is the exclusive vector meson production cross section in coherent and incoherent interactions. Such processes measure the average spatial distribution of gluons in the target as well the fluctuations and correlations in the gluon density. In this paper we present a comprehensive analysis of the energy, photon virtuality, atomic number and momentum transfer dependencies of the coherent and incoherent cross sections considering two different models for the nuclear profile function. In particular, we present the predictions of the hot-spot model, which assumes the presence of subnucleonic degrees of freedom and an energy-dependent profile. Our results indicate that the analysis of the ratio between the incoherent and coherent cross sections and the momentum transfer distributions in the future EIC can be useful to constrain the description of the hadronic structure at high energies., Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, published version

In this paper we consider the Good - Walker approach for the diffractive excitation and updated the Miettinen -- Pumplin (MP) model for $pp/\bar{p}p$ collisions considering the recent LHC data for the total and elastic $pp$ cross sections. The behavior of the total, elastic and diffractive cross sections is analyzed and predictions for the energies of Run 3 of the LHC and those of the Cosmic Rays experiments are derived. Our results demonstrate that the MP model is able to describe the current data and that it implies that the cross section for the diffraction excitation in $pp$ collisions is almost constant in the energy range probed by the LHC and slowly decreases at higher energies. Our results indicate that the Pumplin bound is not reached at the LHC and Cosmic Ray energies. Moreover, the implications of the diffractive excitation in $pA$ collisions is discussed. In particular, the MP model, constrained by the $pp$ data, is used to derive the main quantities present in the treatment of the diffractive excitation in $pA$ collisions. Predictions for the total, elastic and diffractive $pA$ cross sections are presented considering different nuclei. We demonstrate that the effect of fluctuations decreases at larger energies and heavier nuclei. The energy dependence of the diffractive excitation cross section in $pA$ collisions is estimated for different nuclei and compared with the predictions for the proton dissociation induced by photon interactions., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, 3 tables

In this paper we perform a systematic study of the exclusive dilepton production by $\gamma \gamma$ interactions in $PbPb$ collisions at the LHC Run 2 energies considering different levels of precision for the treatment of the absorptive corrections and for the nuclear form factor. The rapidity and invariant mass distributions are estimated taking into account the experimental cutoffs and a comparison with the recent ALICE and ATLAS data for the $e^+ e^-$ and $\mu^+ \mu^-$ production is presented., Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures. Matches the improved version published in EPJC

The description of the inelastic proton -- nucleus cross section at very high energies is still an open question. The current theoretical uncertainty has direct impact on the predictions of the cosmic ray and neutrino physics observables. In this paper we consider different models for the treatment of $\sigma_{inel}^{pA}$, compare its predictions at ultrahigh cosmic ray energies and estimate the prompt neutrino flux at the neutrino energies that have been probed by the IceCube Observatory. We demonstrate that depending of the model used to describe $\sigma_{inel}^{pA}$, the predictions for the prompt neutrino flux can differ by a factor of order of three. Such result demonstrate the importance of a precise measurement of the inelastic proton -- nucleus cross section at high energies., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures; v2: corrected the range of horizontal axis in figure 1. Matches the version published in Eur. Phys. J. C

The production of the $W$ and $Z$ bosons in single diffractive processes at the LHC is investigated taking into account the ATLAS, CMS and LHCb acceptances and considering different assumptions for the flavour content of the Pomeron. The total cross sections and pseudorapidity distributions are estimated for $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV. Our results indicate that a future experimental analysis of the ratio between the $W$ and $Z$ cross sections can be used to probe the flavour content of the Pomeron., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures

Inspired by the recent TOTEM data for the elastic proton -- proton ($pp$) scattering at $\sqrt{s} =$ 8 and 13 TeV, we update previous studies of the differential cross sections using the Phillips -- Barger (PB) model, which parametrizes the amplitude in terms of a small number of free parameters. We demonstrate that this model is able to describe the recent $pp$ data on a statistically acceptable way. Additionally, we perform separate fits of the $pp$ data for each center - of - mass energy and propose a parametrization for the energy dependence of the parameters present in the PB model. As a consequence, we are able to present the PB predictions for the elastic proton - proton cross section at $\sqrt{s} = 546$ GeV and $1.8$ TeV, which are compared with the existing antiproton -- proton ($\bar{p}p$) data. We show that the PB predictions, constrained by the $pp$ data, are not able to describe the $\bar{p}p$ data. In particular, the PB model predicts a dip in the differential cross section that is not present in the $\bar{p}p$ data. Such result suggests the contribution of the Odderon exchange at high energies., Comment: 6 pages, 4 tables, 2 figures, results updated, matches published version

In this letter we complement previous studies on exclusive vector meson photoproduction in hadronic collisions presenting a comprehensive analysis of the $t$ - spectrum measured in exclusive $\rho$ and $J/\Psi$ photoproduction in $pA$ collisions at the LHC. We compute the differential cross sections considering two phenomenological models for the gluon saturation effects and present predictions for $pPb$ and $pCa$ collisions. Moreover, we compare our predictions with the recent preliminary CMS data for the exclusive $\rho$ photoproduction. We demonstrate that the gluon saturation models are able to describe the CMS data at small - $t$. On the other hand, the models underestimate the few data point at large -- $t$. Our results indicate that future measurements of the large -- $t$ region can be useful to probe the presence or absence of a dip in the $t$ -- spectrum and discriminate between the different approaches to the gluon saturation effects., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures

Although the Odderon is an unambiguous prediction of Quantum Chromodynamics, its existence still was not confirmed experimentally. One of the processes where the Odderon contribution is expected to be dominant is the diffractive photoproduction of tensor mesons. In this paper we study the diffractive $f_2(1270)$ photoproduction in $pA$ collisions at LHC and RHIC considering the model of the stochastic vacuum to treat the non - perturbative process. We demonstrate that this process dominates the $f_2$ production at mid - rapidities, and large values for the cross section are predicted. Our results indicate that the experimental analysis of this final state is, in principle, feasible and can be used to probe the Odderon., Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, 1 table. Matches the version published in EPJC