Central production of ρ0 in pp collisions with single proton diffractive dissociation at the LHC

We consider the pp -> pp rho(0)pi(0) and pp -> pn rho(0)pi(+) processes at LHC energies. Our description is based on the nonperturbative framework of tensor pomeron and tensor reggeon exchanges. We discuss the Drell-Hiida-Deck type mechanism with centrally produced rho(0) meson associated with a very forward/backward pi N system. The considered processes constitute an inelastic (nonexclusive) background to the pp -> pp rho(0) reaction in the case when only the centrally produced rho(0) meson decaying into pi(+)pi(-) is measured, the final state protons are not observed, and only rapidity-gap conditions are checked experimentally. We compare our results for gamma pi(+) -> rho(0)pi(+) reaction with the experimental data obtained by the H1 collaboration at HERA. We present several differential distributions for the pp -> pn rho(0)pi(+) reaction and estimate the size of the proton dissociative background to the exclusive pp -> pp rho(0) process. The ratio of integrated cross sections for the inelastic pp -> pN rho(0)pi processes, where pN rho(0)pi stands for pn rho(0)pi(+) plus pp rho(0)pi(0), to the reference reaction pp -> pp rho(0) is of order of (7-10)%. We present also the ratios of the rho(0) rapidity and transverse momentum distributions for the inelastic pp -> pN rho(0)pi versus the elastic pp -> pp rho(0) reaction. Our results may be used to investigate the gamma pi -> rho(0)pi process at LHC energies.