Tests for Two-Body Quantum-Chromodynamic Subprocesses in Dilepton Angular Correlations

Abstract

Angular distributions for dileptons formed in hadronic collisions at large mass $Q^2$ and large transverse momentum $Q_t$ are calculated, assuming various two-body quantum chromodynamic subprocesses. The main results are the following: (a) The polar and azimuthal distributions are correlated. (b) For fixed ${Q_t}^2$, the distributions scale in the variable $w=\frac{{Q_t}^2}{Q^2}$, and thus are independent of total energy. (c) Each subprocess exhibits a characteristic function of $w$, independent of the constituent distributions.