Aspects of χ and ψ production in polarized proton-proton collisions

Several topics of relevance to low transverse momentum and _1,2(c ) production in polarized proton-proton collisions are discussed. The leadingO( _S ³ ) contributions to the lowp _{T 1} production cross-sections viagg, qg, andq initial states are calculated as well as the corresponding spin-spin asymmetries. We find that ₁ production increases relative to direct and ₂ production, providing up to 25% of the observablee ^* e ^– pairs arising from decays inpp collisions at s=500 GeV. The spin-dependence of ₁ production, however, is much smaller than for either direct or ₂ production and so will likely be far less useful than either process in probing the polarized gluon structure function of the proton. A subset of theO( _S ³ ) radiative corrections to ₂ production involving initial state quarks are also performed and compared to leading ordergg₂ predictions.     

Signals for virtual leptoquark exchange at HERA

We study the effects of virtual leptoquarks on charged current and neutral current processes at theep collider HERA. We present the areas of parameter space that can be excluded at HERA by searching for deviations from Standard Model expectations. The best results are obtained by examining the ratio of neutral current to charged current cross sections, R=_NC/_NC, where, with 200 pb^–1 of integrated luminosity for unpolarizede ^– ande ⁺ beams, HERA can search for leptoquarks with masses up to 800 GeV, with leptoquark coupling strengths of order _em.Research supported by an SSC Fellowship from the Texas National Research Laboratory Commission