Large-Mass Timelike Muon Pairs in Hadronic Interactions

Abstract

Utilizing a simple field-theoretic model, we consider the production of timelike muon pairs via a massive virtual photon in high-energy hadronic collisions. We predict the differential cross section in the squared mass of the muon pair as well as the total cross section. We find that our form factors do not possess the analog of the Bjorken scaling associated with deep inelastic electron scattering, but are scale functions multiplied by the usual bremsstrahlung factor $\frac{〈t_{\mathrm{av}}〉}{s}$.