Prompt photon production in high-energy $pA$ collisions at forward rapidity

Abstract

Prompt photon production in hadronic collisions at the RHIC and the LHC energies is investigated within the QCD color dipole approach. Predictions for the nuclear modification factor in $pA$ collisions are evaluated based on parton saturation framework and the results are compared to the experimental measurements as a function of the photon transverse momentum at different rapidity bins. The reliability of the models is performed with the data from PHENIX, ATLAS, and ALICE Collaborations. Moreover, we show that the observed $x_T$-scaling of prompt photon production in $pp$ and $pA$ collisions can positively be addressed in the QCD color dipole formalism.