Diffractive W-+/- production at hadron colliders as a test of color singlet exchange mechanisms

• We revisit diffractive and exclusive (WX)-X-+/- production at hadron colliders in different models for soft color exchanges. The process pp -> p[(WX)-X-+/-]p, and in particular a W-+/- charge asymmetry, has been suggested as a way to discriminate diffractive processes as being due to pomeron exchange in Regge phenomenology or QCD-based color reconnection models. Our detailed analysis of the latter models at LHC energies shows, however, that they give similar results as pomeron models for leading protons and central (WX)-X-+/- production, including a vanishing W-+/- charge asymmetry. We demonstrate that soft color exchange models provide a continuous transition from diffractive to inelastic processes and thereby include the intrinsic asymmetry of inelastic interactions while being at the same time sensitive to the underlying hadronization models. Such sensitivity also concerns the differential distributions in proton momentum and W-+/- transverse momentum, which opens possibilities to discriminate between different color reconnection models.

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NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Subatomär fysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Subatomic Physics (hsv//eng)

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