Abstract
The description of the structure of proton is fundamental in order to describe the standard model processes at the LHC as well as for the searching of new physics. Quantum fluctuations imply the presence of photons and leptons inside the proton, which admit a parton distribution function (PDF). Although the lepton PDFs are expected to be small, its presence opens new production mechanisms. In order to explore the lepton-induced processes at the LHC, a precise determination of the leptonic content of the proton is needed. In this paper we propose to constrain the content of charged leptons inside the proton through the study of the QED Compton scattering in ultraperipheral proton-nucleus collisions at the LHC. We estimate the total cross sections and associated distributions considering different models for the lepton PDFs and distinct lepton flavors. We demonstrate that a future experimental analysis of this process is feasible and that it can be used to constrain the content of electrons, muons, and taus inside the proton.
- Received 20 February 2023
- Accepted 13 April 2023
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.107.073007
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.
Published by the American Physical Society