Comparison of $\psi(2S)$ and $J/\psi$ photoproduction cross sections in Pb-Pb ultraperipheral collisions at the LHC

Abstract

Within the leading logarithmic approximation of perturbative QCD and the leading twist approach to nuclear shadowing, we compare the cross sections of photoproduction of $J/\psi$ and $\psi(2S)$ mesons on nuclei in Pb-Pb UPCs in the LHC kinematics. We find that the nuclear suppression of these cross sections due to the nuclear gluon shadowing is large and rather similar in the $J/\psi$ and $\psi(2S)$ cases.