Bc meson production at the Tevatron revisited

CDF recently measured the quantity sigma(B-c(+))/sigma(B+) BR(B-c(+)-->J/psi l(+) upsilon)/BR(B+-->J/psi K+), from which we determine the ratio sigma(B+)/sigma((b) over bar) to be (2.08(-0.95)(+1.06)) X 10(-3). In this note, we show that the ratio sigma(B-c(+))/sigma((b) over bar) obtained by dividing the sigma(B-c(+)) by the leading order sigma((b) over bar) is consistent with this derived CDF measurement. We calculate the cross section sigma(B-c(+)) using the perturbative QCD fragmentation functions of Braaten, Cheung, and Yuan and the corresponding induced gluon fragmentation functions, with the charm-quark mass m(c) as a parameter. We also estimate the parameter m(c) from the CDF data and then predict the production rate at RunII. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.