We apply a color glass $\text{condensate}+\text{nonrelativistic}$ QCD ($\mathrm{CGC}+\mathrm{NRQCD}$) framework to compute $J/\psi$ production in deuteron-nucleus collisions at RHIC and proton-nucleus collisions at the LHC. Our results match smoothly at high $p_{\perp }$ to a next-to-leading order perturbative $\mathrm{QCD}+\mathrm{NRQCD}$ computation. Excellent agreement is obtained for $p_{\perp }$ spectra at the RHIC and LHC for central and forward rapidities, as well as for the normalized ratio $R_{\mathrm{pA}}$ of these results to spectra in proton-proton collisions. In particular, we observe that the $R_{\mathrm{pA}}$ data are strongly bounded by our computations of the same for each of the individual NRQCD channels; this result provides strong evidence that our description is robust against uncertainties in initial conditions and hadronization mechanisms.

• Received 13 April 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.92.071901