Measurement of exclusive production of scalar χc0 meson in proton-(anti)proton collisions via χc0 → π+π- decay

We consider a measurement of exclusive production of scalar chi(c)(0(++)) meson in the proton-proton collisions at LHC and RHIC and in the proton-antiproton collisions at the Tevatron via chi(c0) -> pi(+)pi(-) decay. The corresponding amplitude for exclusive double-diffractive chi(c0) meson production was obtained within the k(t)-factorization approach including virtualities of active gluons and the corresponding cross section is calculated with unintegrated gluon distribution functions (UGDFs) known from the literature. The four-body pp -> pp pi(+)pi(-) reaction constitutes an irreducible background to the exclusive chi(c0) meson production. We include absorption effects due to proton-proton interaction and pion-pion rescattering. We calculate several differential distributions for pp((p) over bar) -> pp((p) over bar)chi(c0) process including the absorptive corrections. The influence of kinematical cuts on the signal-to-background ratio is investigated. Corresponding experimental consequences are discussed. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier BM.