Asymmetry in $\Lambda_b$ and $\bar \Lambda_b$ production

Abstract

In CMS data at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, the ratio $\sigma(pp \to \bar \Lambda_b X)/\sigma(p p \to \Lambda_b X)$ appears to fall as the baryons become more forward. Mechanisms which could give rise to this effect are discussed. It is urged that the same physics be explored in data from the LHCb Detector at CERN and the Fermilab Tevatron proton-antiproton collider. In the latter, if such leading-baryon effects are present, one expects $\Lambda_b$ to be preferentially produced in the direction of the proton and $\bar \Lambda_b$ to be preferentially produced in the direction of the antiproton.