Exclusive axionlike particle production by gluon -- induced interactions in hadronic collisions

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