Nuclear suppression in diffractive vector meson production within the color glass condensate framework

¹ Department of Physics, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, 40014 University of Jyväskylä, Finland
² Helsinki Institute of Physics, P.O. Box 64, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
³ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan 48201, USA
⁴ Department of Physics, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122, USA
⁵ RIKEN-BNL Research Center, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USA
⁶ Physics Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USA
⁷ Institute for Nuclear Theory, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA
⁸ Nuclear Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
⁹ Physics Department, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA

^* e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Published online: 17 April 2026

Abstract

We perform a global Bayesian analysis of diffractive J|ψ production in γ+p and γ+Pb collisions within a Color Glass Condensate based framework. Using data from HERA and the LHC, we find that a simultaneous description of γ + p and γ + Pb observables is challenging. Introducing a global K-factor to account for theoretical uncertainties improves the agreement with data and enhances the framework's predictive power. We present predictions for integrated J|ψ cross sections at different photon-nucleus energies and study their A-dependence relative to a no-saturation baseline, quantifying nuclear suppression and providing insights into the onset of saturation effects.