Leading charm in hadron-nucleus interactions in the intrinsic charm model Original Research Article

Leading charm hadrons produced in hadron-nucleus interactions cannot be adequately described within the parton fusion model. Recent results on charm baryon production in Σ− A interactions at 330 GeV with the WA89 detector disagree with fusion predictions. Intrinsic heavy quark pairs in the Σ− (dds) wavefunction provide a simple mechanism for producing fast charm hadrons. We calculate leading charm baryon production from Σ−, π− and p projectiles in a two component model combining parton fusion with intrinsic charm. Final state D−, Σc0, Ξc+, and Λc+ dσ/dxF distributions and D−/D+, Ds−/Ds+andΛc+/Λc+ asymmetries are compared to WA89 data. Predictions are made for 650 GeV Σ− A and π− A interactions in the SELEX detector at Fermilab and for 800 GeV pA interactions.